Catalysts to a Life
by Seamus1800
Summary: An alternate Season Seven ending. It take place after Buffy has had her vision with the shadow men and Spike has manned up a bit. Specifically starting after Season 7 Ep 17 (Lies my Parents Told Me). I've incorporated some of my favorite elements of the show's last few episodes I simply couldn't leave out as well as some bits referencing other great fan fictions. Rated M!
1. Chapter 1: Mirrored Veil

Chapter 1 – Mirrored Veil

"Nothing, the FIRST is coming with an uber-vamp army and we have no way to fight them" Buffy was at her wits end, lousy with dead ends and no clue what the FIRST had in store for them. The Scooby gang was at a loss and watcher in training, Dawn, had been nose deep in books ever since Joyce appeared to her. All that time and energy researching the origin of evil, usually they would have at least had a lead by now, but zilch.

"We'll figure something out Buff," Willow trying to be reassuring "we always do."

"But we're not fighting a vampire lord, or a giant snake, or even a hell god; we're fighting the reason they exist. And we're not gonna take them out with a rocket launcher or an ajoining spell." Buffy threw her head down into the open book in front of her at the dining table. The whole gang was in deep research mode.

"So what, we just give up?" Willow asked.

"No, of course not, just ranting about our imminent doom." Trying her best not to sound discouraging, but failing. "I need a new brain, one that hasn't been stuck thinking about this 24/7."

"Or maybe find someone who's faced the FIRST before." Willow trying to be helpful.

"And based on our stunning lack of answers from our research, I'm guessing that nobody in this dimension has faced the FIRST and lived to tell the tale." Xander chimed in.

"I guess so, but we had bubcus on Glory until the council gave us all that useful info about her hell dimension, and how she just wanted to go home. Once we actually got that research it totally changed the game for us." Willow boasted triumphantly.

"Yeah but unfortunately this time the watchers council kinda got blowed up, so our resources are a bit limited." Xander reminded.

"Wait, what did you just say Xander?" Buffy inquired.

"Council go boom?"

"No, before that, 'nobody in this dimension'?"

"What about it Buff?"

"Anya, you've seen other dimensions before right?"

"Well yes, there are thousands of other dimensions, some are just different worlds, and some are simply alternate realities of our own world. Like there's a world without shrimp, exact same as ours just no shrimp."

"So another reality on the same timeline could be drastically different just because of the little changes?"

"Yeah, like in the world without shrimp, instead of Xander getting food poisoning last year from the bad shrimp he ate, he probably ate something else and did something different with the day he spent puking. Maybe he saved someone from a vampire, and because that person lived it changed the future."

"I think I'm getting a headache." Dawn moaned as she lifted her head from the tomb she was translating. "Trying to translate a Turkish spell and hearing you talk about alternate realities and dimensions, too much for this watcher junior brain."

"Then stop trying to translate and just listen to me, I'm far more interesting." Anya proclaimed.

"So Anya, you're saying it's possible other dimensions or realities could have faced the FIRST already?" Buffy tried to clarify.

"Well yes, that's definitely possible, I mean it seems hard to believe this is the first time the FIRST has tried to get rid of good. It's possible they already overtook the other more hell-like dimensions, it would make sense, lack of good to balance the scale and all."

"Wow, so all we have to do is find a dimension that's beaten the FIRST back, pay them a visit all reporter like and ask them how they did it!" Xander simplified "Easy peasey, lemon squeezy, right?"

"Well no, not as easy peasey as you just made it sound. It is extremely difficult for mortals to travel dimensions, mainly 'cause there is no guarantee there will be a way back. Magic doesn't work the same in every dimension. So the magics used to make a portal here may not work to do the same in another." Anya clarified.

"I mean it was a lot of work but Willow was able to make a portal for Buffy to come home from the shadow man dimension." Xander imposed.

"Yeah, but we had that demon to exchange to actually pull her back specifically, otherwise I'm not sure how we would have found her to bring her back." Willow impishly explained, giving Buffy a shrug.

"Okay so what if you don't go to the other dimensions, just take a look?" Dawn chimed in.

"What are you saying Dawnie?"

"So instead of going into the dimension and asking around you just look through a window of time." Dawn offered "I mean it's gotta be possible to just see other dimensions without needing to be there. That's how the Baljoxis eye worked, it saw everything past and present in every dimension, right?"

"Well yes, but we already tried talking to that peeping tom and it got us nothing but the fact that us bringing Buffy back was the reason the FIRST was acting up." Xander reminded.

"Willow, I've been reading about this spell called the mirrored veil, or something like that…" Dawn started.

"I've heard of that spell, but isn't it more of a fortune teller's glamor?"

"That's what I've read about it, people use it as a fortune teller trick 'cause it shows what seems like could be your future with bits of your past to make you believe it is or could be true. See I'm thinking it's not a prophetic spell so much as revealing alternate realities. Showing what your life could be if you just did or will do just a couple things different."

"Now that you put it that way; that makes alotta sense. Anya you know about this spell? Have you seen it done?" Willow inquired.

"I haven't heard about this mirror spell but I know it's possible to cast a window to look into other dimensions. What do you think us demons would watch for fun before TV." She chuckled to herself then added, "I've just never heard of mortals doing it. I mean most mortals don't know about any dimension besides their own, so I guess why would they go looking?"

"Well this seems more promising than stewing in the impending doom. Willow, Dawn, & Anya you keep looking into this maybe we can make it work and get a clue of what's to come and how we can fight it." Buffy directed "Xander you wanna help me with the potentials' training session in the back yard?"

"Sure thing Buff," Xander accepted as he stood up from his chair. "I have a feeling I'd be more helpful teaching how to bash things in than trying to keep up with the brainiacs, and Anya."

"Oh bite me Harris, I may not understand chemistry and smarty pants stuff like Willow here but I've been alive for over 1,000 years, I can help!" Anya argued.

"Never said you couldn't," Xander hollered as he walked out the back of the house "Just taking my jab at ya for the day."

* * *

Just past 1:00 Buffy wrapped up her training with the girls and sent Xander out for pizza. Willow, Dawn, & Anya were still working out how to work out the dimensional window. And after Buffy's last discussion with Giles, he thought it'd be best to go back to England and try to pick-up the pieces of the council. Andrew was actually being helpful doing the dishes and not even griping about it. After bringing in & putting back the last of her weapons in the chest, Buffy figured now was as good a time as ever to fill Spike in on the morning's new plan. So after closing the weapons chest, as much as it would with all the extra weapons in it lately, Buffy headed down to the basement.

"Spike, you awake?" she asked timidly starting down the stairs.

"Buffy? What's up?"

"Nothing, I mean if you'd rather keep sleeping I can tell you later." she stared up the staircase.

"Na, I'm good, luv." Spike sat up in his cot and slid to one end, motioning for Buffy to join him. A blanket covered his lower half, but nothing covering his top. "What'd the Scooby's come up with now? Something actually useful against the utmost evil?"

Buffy walked over to him and joined him on his cot. "Dawn kinda came to an intriguing idea, Willow and Anya are helping her work it out now."

"And the idea would be?"

"Complicated… essentially they're trying to find a way to look into other dimensions, so we can see how other people or creatures may have defeated or at least repelled the FIRST."

"I see, so by seein' what world without shrimp Buffy would do, we could gauge what we should or shouldn't be doin'. That the idea?"

"Yup" Buffy said with empty enthusiasm, then she perked up and shot him a look of confusion "Wait, how'd you know about the world without shrimp?"

"Eh, everybody knows the more obscure dimensions, well everybody who isn't human, pet." He explained as he gave her a light sideways shove.

"Have you ever been to another dimension?"

"Me? No," Spike scoffed "never thought the idea was all that interesting, got plenty of fun things to do right here at home."

"I suppose, killing and falling in love with slayers would keep you busy."

"Oi, I killed two, only fell in love with one." Spike clarified "Bitch made me wanna be a better man and everything, soul included" he joked.

"Yeah, she does sound like a bitch." Buffy chottled.

"She is," Spike started to lean in and then stopped and added. "But you know all 'bout Faith."

Buffy shot him a look and sent a half-hearted left hook right for his jaw. Spike intercepted it and pulled her in close against his chest to diffuse any other blows. They chuckled for a minute then Spike said softly "I'm only joshing you Slayer, you know it's all 'bout you, luv." then he gingerly kissed the top of her head.

For a moment Buffy was relaxed and comforted by her en-souled lover, then the panic and fear of 'this isn't right' and 'we would never work' settled in and she squirmed out of his grasp and headed for the stairs. As her foot landed on the first stair, Spike made her pause with a soft "I'm sorry pet" Buffy glanced back at him. "I didn't mean to scare ya."

"I know," she said as she turned to face him "And I'm not exactly being fair to you. I like being around you, 'cause you have this inhumane ability to understand me, and know what I need; more than my friends ever have… for some reason."

A small smile escaped Spike's lips as he cocked his head to the side, then prodded "But?"

"But you're a vampire, your immortal, you've lived far before me and will probably live long after." She bluntly pointed out "There is just no logical reason us being together would remotely work. The only healthy relationship I've been in I chased off because I didn't wanna deal with an ultimatum."

"Buffy…" Spike stood up, revealing that he was indeed wearing pants as he strode toward her.

"And now that relationship has absolutely no hope cause he's happily _married_ to a great girl who's human and loves to fight demons like him. Hey maybe I should just become gay and find a potential slayer to hook up with like Willow, then at least our lifespans would be similar."

"Slayer." Spike said with a bit more emphasis to shake Buffy out of her rant. It wasn't until then that Buffy realized he was standing right in front of her, and staring into her with those deep blue eyes of his. "Everythin' will work itself out eventually, if you end up with me, well that'll be grand." he shot her a quick smile, then placed a hand on her cheek "If you end up with someone else that makes you feel wonderful and loved, well I'll be happy knowing you found what you've been looking for all along. Either way I'm a better person, er well demon, for having known you Buffy."

She took a deep breath and said meaningfully "Thanks… William." Then she headed up the stairs to the dining room where the girls were researching.

 _William… I hate it when she uses my real name, all true confessions. I may be in love with you Slayer, but I know you love me too, just gotta make you realize it for yourself… And find a way around this immortality business…_


	2. Chapter 2: Catalysts

Chapter 2 – Catalysts

"So how goes it?" Buffy asked with high hopes that the gang would have something for her to do or see. Xander joined the room with 2 plates of pizza, handing one to Buffy, she gave him a quick "Thanks," as they both listened to the morning research debriefing.

"Pretty good, I think" Willow chimed "The spell should allow us to take a peek into other dimensions, like Dawn thought, I just don't know how we're gonna see what we want out of the dimension. It could be like watching live TV of what's going on there right now, which could be helpful, or ya know very unhelpful since the FIRST being an all seeing entity probably isn't trying to overtake another dimension right now."

"Well it probably is because some are exact copies of ours with small changes" Anya pointed out.

"Well what I'm trying to figure out is how to make the window more like a movie trailer, showing us the highlights of the dimension. You know the best and worst things that happened there, I'm sure the FIRST would make that kinda list in dimension history."

"The trailers are almost always better than the movie anyway" Xander piped in.

"Yes Willow, but how do we do that without some kind of conduit?" Anya asked "Magic has to be focused on something specific, a catalyst, especially when dealing with different times and places."

"Could we grab a Bringer and focus the mirror veil on them, I mean they're an agent of the FIRST, kind of around for all it's evil doings." Dawn suggested.

"Maybe, but if we're looking for a way to beat the FIRST, I'm not sure looking at other dimension Bringers kill more slayers would be helpful. That seems to be about all they do." Anya rebutted.

"That we know of," Buffy added between bites "For all we know they maybe do special chanting on the side that is the key to the FIRST's power. This is all listed in that 'we don't know diddly' column."

"Oooo, or that Towarick knife?" Dawn almost yelled as she thought of it "Loud, sorry I know…" exchanging an embarrassed look around the room, then regained her composure and continued "Yeah, ya know the one Andrew used to open the seal. Maybe find out more as to why it's connected? I mean ancient demon language and the FIRST evil may be more than pen pals."

"Yeah that could be worth…" Willow started but was cut off by a deep British voice.

"What about me?"

"Spike, what about you, what?" Willow asked for the group.

"I've been listening to the pow wow kiddies. What about trying to see what the FIRST has in store for me. Last we know it told the boy it wasn't time for me _yet_. If we can see what may happen when it is my time, I'd say that be helpful to know. So we can avoid me killing any good guys, right?"

"I'm all for Spike not killing us all in our sleep." Anya agreed.

"I don't know I was kinda looking forward to it," Xander joked "then I get to say 'I told you so" to everyone!"

"Xander." Buffy glared.

"Sorry." Xander replied half-heartedly.

"So what 'bout it Red? Think another dimension me would give us a clue how I'm suppose' to muck it all up."

"Yeah, that may work," Willow nodded "at least to start, maybe using Spike and finding another thing we think the FIRST is gonna use in it's end game."

"Like the knife!" Dawn boasted again a little too excited.

"Yeah maybe Dawnie, or if we…" But before Willow could finish Buffy chimed in

"Use me."

"Buffy?" Dawn said a little confused.

"Makes sense" Spike agreed.

"Yeah," Willow agreed "Whatever the FIRST's plan is, it's gotta involve the two of you, otherwise it'd be trying harder to kill you. And it had told Andrew not to kill you yet."

"You sounded a little too chipper about that Will." Xander pointed out.

"Well it's good they aren't dead yet, isn't it?" Willow asked.

"I'm glad neither of you are dead," Dawn declared.

"Thanks little bit," Spike nodded with a little smirk.

Buffy chuckled to herself. She found their relationship so funny at times. It made sense for the most part, the summer she was dead they did spend a lot of time together. _Plus the whole Spike loves me and Dawn is like a mini-pain-in-the-but version of me. Either way the person I love most in this world trusted Spike, so why do I have to make it all so complicated?_ Then she heard a sound emerging beyond her thoughts, and looked up to see Willow, and everybody else staring right at her. "What?" afraid she had just said any or all of that out loud.

"I asked if you think that'll work? Using you and Spike as the conduit for the mirrored veil?" Willow reiterated "I mean it seems pretty obvious that the FIRST's ideal end game is gonna involve the two of you."

Buffy risked a glance at Spike for reassurance, who was all for it it would seem. "Yeah, let's try it, what's the worst that could happen, we see how I get to die again?" Buffy stated with almost infectious enthusiasm.

"So we can keep it from bloody happenin' again. Dying once is fine, twice is a bit of a stretch, three times is just bollocks." Spike said, trying to keep it lighthearted, but not being especially convincing.

"Alright then, give us the rest of the afternoon to put it together and get supplies then we should be good to go." Willow explained "Xander would you mind running out to get some stuff? You could take Andrew with, you may want a second pair of hands."

"Fine, just cause you asked nicely Will, and your my best friend…" then Xander left for the kitchen and returned 10 seconds later "I'm gonna need to know what I have to get."

"I'll make you a list, just give me a minute."

"Right then, if ya'll don't need me I'd like to get a bit more rest downstairs before I become a magic puppet." Spike looked to Willow then Buffy for the answer to his question.

"That should be fine, we'll come get ya when we need ya" Willow said comfortably, with that Spike gave a nod and headed for the basement.

"Won't need me either than at the moment?" Buffy inquired, Spike paused a before heading down the steps. Was she wanting to come lay down with him? Talk to him?

"Na, I'd imagine I'll be ready around sunset if that works for you?" Willow replied.

"Great, I was wanting to take the potentials out on a run," Buffy announced, and with that Spike descended the stairs, _of course she didn't want to spend time with me._ "Did the whole strength training this morning, so once the pizza has settled I'll take them out."

"Sounds good to me" Willow endorsed.

* * *

It was about 5:00, and hour or two before sunset, an hour or two before it was time to work the mojo; and sleep was the farthest thing from Spike's mind. _How could I sleep after I practically poured my heart out to her and she just brushed me off? I may be a creature of the night, but I still have the heart of a poet._ With every confused thought Spike took it out on the punching bag that hung in the basement. _She knows I love her, would die for her, hell I practically have half a dozen times. So what the bleeding hell is wrong with her… or me, what's it take to be hers? I got the soul, without a "no-shagging" addendum too, unlike Tall Dark & Forehead…_ With another strong backhanded punch to the bag Spike heard the door at the top of the stairs open. He paused to listen as Dawn called down to him.

"Spike? You awake"

"Yeah little bit, I'm up"

"You decent?"

Just the way she said it made him chuckle a bit. "Nope I'm stark naked, while I bash away at the punchin' bag."

"I was just checking," she explained as she headed down the stairs, relieved that he was indeed messing with her and was fully clothed. "It's not like we all don't know ya sleep nude a lot."

"Since when's that common knowledge?"

"I don't know, just is." Was all Dawn could offer as she took a seat at the table at the bottom of the stairs. "So, not so much with the sleep before the magic session?" she said as she pointed to the still swaying punching bag.

"Na couldn't sleep, thought I'd workout instead."

"Hm," not so convinced boredom was the only reason.

"What? Big sis can take this time to go work out with the wanna be's, but I can't punch the stuffin out of a sack?" he said, clearly frustrated as he plopped down in the seat across from Dawn at the table.

"Did you wanna go jogging in the sunlight?" Dawn pried, a little confused.

"No, just getting annoyed with the slayerettes I guess."

"Yeah, I get that" empathizing with the housebroken vampire "I barely see Buffy anymore, at least you get to go with on slayer training, well after dark anyway."

"Not so much since the FIRST's got the bloody uber-vamps running about. Not so safe to be taking the girls out after dark. Or at least that's what Buffy tells me."

"Ouch, little bitter there Spike?"

"No, Buffy can lead these girls however she see fit, I'll help when I'm asked and get lost when I'm not needed."

"Okay not a little bitter, lotta bitter. What's wrong Spike? And don't say nothing, 'cause you're not even trying to hide how frustrated you are. Is it the potentials or Buffy your mad at?"

"The trollops are just getting on my nerves, too much time around them I s'pect."

"So what did Buffy do then?"

"When did you get all insightful little bit?"

"About the same time I got incredibly scary," Spike shot her a confused look "Buffy told me you said that, I was pretty proud I actually scared you." Dawn grinned wildly, and Spike couldn't help but chuckle at the young woman. After a moment Dawn got more serious again and repeated her question "So, what did Buffy do to make you upset?"

"Nothin', I just tried explainin' how I feel about her, again, and she just shrugged me off and ran upstairs."

"How do you feel about her, honestly?"

Spike was confused by the question, if everyone knew he slept starkers, then everyone definitely knew he was in love with Buffy. "Dawn you know…"

"No, I mean I want you to straight up tell me how you feel about her without saying 'I love her'."

Spike thought for a moment, took a deep breath then said "I've been alive for over 100 years, and of all the things I've done there has only been one thing I've ever been sure of, and that would be your sis. I'm gobsmacked by everything she says and does. I love watching her fight, so graceful, but deadly. She's bloody perfect she is." Spike reveled in his mental picture of the woman he loved, then looked up at Dawn, shook it off a little then added "But the thing is she knows she's perfect so she says, or doesn't say things just to piss me off and keep me from her side. That what you wanted to hear little bit?"

"Well maybe a bit more than I was expecting. You really were a poet before you became a vampire weren't you?"

"Buffy told you that too?" a little hurt by the lack of secrecy between friends or maybe enemies.

"No secret is safe between two sisters, William."

"Oi, none of that, or at least say the full William the Bloody," actually getting a little mad at the use of his real name "There's a reason I made a new name for myself, people start finding out what my real name is they'll lose respect for me, or at least forget they're suppos'ta be afraid of me."

"Okay, sorry Spike, I won't say it again."

"Thanks, luv."

"No problem, so were you shot down once and for all or do you still think you got a shot?" Dawn pried.

"I'm not sure. Buffy assures me it'll never work, I'm gonna live forever, she's gonna die a mortal life, if she's lucky. And that I'm not a 'healthy' relationship for her, whatever that means."

"Did she forget she dated Angel for three years?"

"Past is the past sweet bit, she's learned from it and isn't looking to repeat any of the painful parts."

"But you're not gonna lose your soul if you guys do it will you?"

"Dawn?!" appalled that she'd be asking him about sex with her sister.

"What isn't that the painful part you talking about, you going all evil and killing her friends?"

"No, painful break-up once she figures the relationship is doomed, which apparently she already has. I'm not about to force myself on her… again, but I'm not ready to give up just yet either." a look of defeat clear on his face made the last statement a bit less convincing. "And by the way I'm not bloody cursed, I got my soul through demon trials, I won it back, it ain't going away after a good shag."

"Okay, thanks for clearing that up," trying to sound hopeful, she hated seeing Spike so upset, she saw enough of it the summer they were both without Buffy, but that also meant she knew a few ways to try and cheer the vampire up, or at least distract him for a while. "So, we got a bit till Willow's ready to work the mojo. Wanna play some Rummy?" She asked reaching for the cards at the far end of the table.

"Sure little bit," forcing a smile on his face, as she started to shuffle the cards "You always know how ta cheer me up."


	3. Chapter 3: Spell O' Clock

Chapter 3 – Spell O' Clock

"So, we all set?" Buffy asked as she walked into the dining room guzzling down a bottle of water. The three hour workout was pretty draining for her, the potentials mostly passed out once they got home.

"Yup, just about," Willow assured her "I figure we'll set up out here since the potentials kinda overtook the living room."

"That's fine with me. Do I have time to take a shower quick before we get going?"

"Yeah, that should be fine,"

"Super, back in a flash" Buffy said as she trotted up the stairs.

Xander, Anya, & Andrew helped clear a space for the spell, moving the dining table against the far wall, making a large space for Willow to perform the spell with Buffy & Spike. "So, we gonna' need to set up some mirrors for this mirror, crystal ball trick?" Xander asked

"No, the mirrors should appear around us as the spell starts," Willow clarified "Sorta like trapping us in a fun house!" Willow was expecting at least a giggle out of that joke…

"I'd laugh but the word trap tends to scare me Wil."

"We won't be trapped, if we need to step out of the circle at any time we can, it would just break the spell. Since we'd be losing a catalyst." Xander and Andrew looked a little confused "The person we're focusing the spell on."

"Oh, got'ch'ya. You want me to go grab captain peroxide?"

"Sure, Thanks Xander."

When Xander open the door to the basement he heard a strange sound that scared him a little. Spike & Dawn were laughing, giggling even. Big bother mode kicked in and he stormed down the stairs, only to find the pair bickering and laughing at each other over a table with cards laid out on it. "I never knew kitten poker was that funny." He said as he announced his presence.

"Not poker, Rummy," Dawn clarified between giggles "And for like the first time in forever I am kicking Spike's ass!"

"Oi, you're only up two games pet, I'll beat you yet."

"It'll have to be later, it's spell'o'clock." Xander said as he gestured up the stairs, then turned to start up them.

"Already huh?" Spike said, honestly a little shocked, he looked up at the small window behind him and realize the sun was actually setting. The last couple hours flew by with Dawn being such a good distraction from his inner turmoil.

"Well then, I win." Dawn boasted.

"Not yet little bit, once the mojo is done I es'pect a rematch."

"Fine, if we don't find anything that is in need of immediate research, I'll be happy to kick your ass some more after the spell." Wild grin on her face she followed Xander up the stairs.

After a deep breath Spike threw on his coat and followed suit up the stairs to find a cleared space in the dining room with Anya, Andrew, & Xander assembling papers, and Dawn and Willow double checking all the magic components. Too late to back out now I s'pose. He thought to himself. "Where's Buffy at? She still out?" he asked the general audience.

"Well after the exhausting run she decided a shower would be best," Spike shot Andrew an annoyed look making him get right to the point, he hated the boy's stupid storyteller way of speaking. "I just heard the shower turn off, she should be down shortly."

"I think she was smart to shower, I wouldn't wanna be stuck in a sacred circle with how smelly she was." Anya felt the need to say. Spike couldn't help but smile, and chuckle a little at Anya's straightforwardness. Now Anya Spike liked, always got right to her point, never beat around the bush or wasted his time.

"She work the girls pretty hard then?" Spike asked, trying to fill the waiting silence.

"I would say so!" Andrew exasperated "They jogged to the UC Sunnydale campus, did sprint workouts on the track, did high jump and pole vaulting maneuvers, they leaped over hurdles, then they jogged all the way back here, and then finished they're 3 hour ordeal doing some yoga, or ti-chi, or maybe it was just stretching." After seeing everyone give him the same look Spike did a minute earlier he concluded with "Well I drove out with water bottles and I recorded the training requirements. I'm thirsty now." With that he popped into the kitchen.

"He's a breath of fresh air," Spike said "Thank god I don't breathe." Dawn and Anya couldn't help but giggle at the sentiment. As Andrew reentered the room, Spike heard a steady light thump on the stairs, and sure enough Buffy rounded the corner, wearing just some black yoga pants and a red tank top, still wet hair pulled up in a bun. _God, she looks stunning in anything. Nothing would make me happier right now than to go a few rounds with her and end with a good shag._ Spike pulled himself out of his fantasy and forced himself to concentrate as Willow started addressing everyone about the spell.

"Alrighty, so I'll start the spell by placing us three in a sacred circle, say some latin gibberish, then it should get all shiny and start popping the mirrors up all around us. When me and Dawnie looked into it it seems the mirrors should be double sided, one side shows what has happened, and the other sees the opposite. So for example if we see a mirror show that Buffy killed Spike, that same mirror could show you guys that Spike killed Buffy. Make sense?" collective nods all around "So, just to be clear, none of what we see is set in stone, it'll just give us a glimpse of how things could be, or have been. So we may see some recaps of stuff we already know."

"So we'll probably get to see replays of Buffy beating the crap outta Spike?" Xander chimed in hopeful.

"Maybe," Willow replied, knowing what other previous interactions the group might see, some she wasn't sure if Dawn should be seeing. "Um, Buffy can I talk to you for a sec.?"

"Sure" they both stepped into the kitchen, Spike perked his ears to listen in, pretty sure he knew what Willow was gonna make clear.

"So you get the part about we may see any interaction that has happened right? Between you twos?"

"Yes Will, I'm not thrilled about it, but all else fails I just plea that some of the more embarrassing things we see didn't actually happen."

"Yeah, I suppose that's a good scapegoat," she paused still a little afraid to bring up her main point "But do you want Dawn seeing what has or well could occour be between you two? Possibly graphic sex scenes? Or brutal murders of either of you? I mean she idolizes both of you."

Buffy paused, her little sis was growing up and she knew Spike and her bumped uglys last year; but it still may scar her for life actually seeing it on a big glowy screen. "What do you think Wil?"

"I don't know, I still think of her as little Dawnie, even though she's taller than me now…"

"Do I dare let her decide? I feel like she'd think she could handle anything, then end up having a hard time dealing."

"Yeah I get that, teenagers not known for their good sense of judgement."

"Just let her be." Spike intruded in "She's way more mature than any 16 year old I've met, and you know she's gonna be helping with whatever we find out from the sodding spell."

Both women wanted to chew him out for intruding on their private conversation, but they both knew he was probably right. Besides if Buffy _really_ didn't want Spike to hear what they were talking about they should have gotten out of his hyper hearing earshot. After a brief look of consideration between the friends, they agreed. "Your right Spike, Dawns a big girl, she should be able to handle it." Buffy conceded. With that the three rejoined the dining room.

"Okay then, any questions about the spell?" Willow inquired walking back to her box of magic goodies.

"So if we're going to be seeing two different images both in and out of the circle, how do we know which image is true, or more likely?" Anya inquired.

"That's where we'll have to take notes and sort through them later," Willow reasoned "Odds are one side is going to have more true images that we remember, and those are gonna be the dimensions in closer sync to our own, so therefore more likely to happen. So everybody is gonna need to spread out and take notes on any image they see, be specific. Look to the background, try to figure out where and when something took place, so we can put together a timeline of sorts."

"So we gonna want more eye's than just the four of us? Catch more stuff?" Dawn offered.

"No," Buffy blurted out, just a little too quickly "I'd rather it just be us. The potentials aren't going to be very helpful of the when or where of an image anyway."

"Oh, yeah I guess so," Dawn replied.

"So!" Xander nearly shouted as he clapped his hands "Shiny circle, nonsense words, doublesided mirrors start popping up and we all take notes so we don't forget what we see, then we have lots of homework when the magics all done. That about it?"

"To put it simply, yeah pretty much." Willow confessed as she grabbed the sand and almost started to pour "Oh shoot!"

"What Will?" Buffy asked first.

"It's just us in the center won't be able to take note, we're gonna be holding hands to maintain the spell."

"Oh, well we'll try to remember I guess. Shouldn't be too hard for us, since we'll know exactly what's true or not." Buffy guessed.

"Yeah, I suppose…" Willow reasoned.

"All else fails you can do the shiny remember charm you used on me." Andrew added.

"True," Willow concurred "Thanks Andrew that was actually helpful."

"And to the point!" Anya elated "Nice, all this time with me is starting to pay off." She grinned as she finished handing out the notepads.

"Alright, here we go." Willow poured the dark green sand in a large circle set the bottle down then motioned to Buffy and Spike to join hands with her and each other. "On three, One, Two, Three" on the third count they all stepped into the circle.


	4. Chapter 4: Surveying Dimensions

Chapter 4 – Surveying Dimensions

"Intrabit in regnum videntem videre et tangere anima videamus quomodo connectere binis praeteritis de futuris texitur. Aperire fenestras! Venite videte!"

Latin translation: (Enter the realm of the seeing, to see and not touch, connect these two soul and let us see how they are intertwined from past to future. Open the windows! Let us see!)

The sand began to shift around them, turning from a circle into an octagon. Then a crystal like shell grew out of the sand, forming a crude shell around Buffy, Spike, and Willow. When it was done growing each crystal pane stood nearly seven feet tall and three feet wide, and resembled a dressing mirror, only tinted green. Then the glass started to glow and images started to appear.

The first one Buffy saw she recognized in an instant:

Buffy was sitting on Spikes lap in Giles flat, holding a figuring of a bride and groom _Ooo, red paint, smear a little on the mouth, blood of the innocent._ She remembered saying while she was under the influence of Willow's 'I Will it So' spell. Then just as Buffy was about to look to another pane the image changed. Now they were in Giles's bathroom, Spike was chained to the tub, and Buffy was unwrapping a wounded arm. She remembered the wound, from the Shumash vengeance warrior spirit that shot her with an arrow. Once the wound was unwrapped she picked off the scab that started and let the blood drip into Spikes mouth. Before long Buffy lowered her arm until Spikes lips grazed her skin, and she was letting him drink straight from the wound. Buffy was taken back, she knew how that could feel from when Angel bit her, and she started to think how it would feel if Spike were to… Buffy let her thoughts drift, then she caught Spike out of the corner of her eye looking at the same mirror. Then Buffy searched for another, more helpful option.

Spike was intrigued by the pane Buffy was watching but refocused on the point of the spell and looked into a different dimension:

The pane that caught his jealous eye was one that didn't happen but easily could have if the timing had been different. There was a helicopter leaving the tree line of Breakers woods, below on the helicopter pad Buffy was in Riley's embrace, exchanging fierce kisses and words he could best guess were 'I thought I was gonna lose you' and 'I'm so glad you came' and 'I'm so sorry'. Spike really hated that prick, always thinking he was better than him. Spike tried his best to keep his feelings in check and watched as the scene flashed forward to when Glory had Dawn tied to the top of the nut job tower. Much of the fight was the same as he remembered, except when Spike and Riley made a break for the tower, Spike got caught up with the demons at the base while Riley rushed to the top. As he approached the top he managed to sneak up behind the old lizard man and threw him off the tower before Dawn had been cut, the portal was never opened. Then Riley freed Dawn, Glory had missed her shot, all thanks to Riley. _I could have been sneaky, that way Buffy wouldn't have had to jump. Why the hell did I have to talk and muck it up?_ Spike thought to himself, then the image faded out, _What'd that mean, did I leave town after that battle or something, did Buffy and me part ways? Did I die?_ With that Spike searched for a more uplifting mirror.

Dawn looked for a more helpful mirror, she didn't think watching the memory of her being used as a key was gonna be helpful against the FIRST. Then she spotted a mirror she could not look away from:

Buffy was in the main hall bathroom, filling the tub, she seemed to be in pain. Then Spike walks in, they talked for a little while, Dawn couldn't read what they're lips were saying, but Spike was clearly upset and frustrated. _Oh no, this might be a memory I best not see. Is this when Spike tried to rape her?_ Nervously she watched on, intent that if the scene turned bad she would look away. Eyes focused on the screen she saw Spike start to cry, and collapsed on the floor. Buffy slowly walked over to him and sat down next to him, seemingly trying to comfort the confused vampire. Then Dawn read a clear 'I love you Buffy' escape from Spike's lips, followed by her saying 'I know'. Then the words got less decipherable, her best guess was they were trying to work it out, then Buffy tilted Spike's head up and gave him a soft kiss. Clearly stunned by the gesture, Spike started to back away, then Buffy took his hand in her's and compelled him to stay. Then they just sat there on the bathroom floor in each other's arm. Then the pane faded into Buffy's bedroom, candles lit all around and Spike messaging a naked Buffy. Then at closer look Dawn noticed Buffy wasn't the only one naked. With that image Dawn concluded this dimension was not going to help them defeat the FIRST, and she went searching for another mirror.

Willow was uneasy from the dimension she just witnessed, something she had hear about but was kind of in her own world when it happened. When Spike tried to rape Buffy. _Another mirror please?_ She begged to herself, and sure enough another intriguing scene caught her eye:

Buffy, Spike, Faith, and all the potentials were in a large cavern; everyone was geared up for a fight. Then the view widened out, Willow saw something that was definitely gonna be useful information, the army of Turok-Han. Then the army began to swarm the girls. At first they were barley holding their own, then every potential started to fight with the strength of Buffy and Faith, like they all were just infused with slayer strength. _But how? That shouldn't be possible, but it clearly is, somehow…_ Then a bright light shot out from the midst of the group, Willow focused in on the light only to see Spike was the source of it. She looked even closer to see there was a large pendant on his chest the light was coming from. Willow tried to remember the details of the pendant for later, since this light was acting like sunlight to the uber-vamps, turning them to dust as it hit them. Then the beam started destroying more than the vamps, the pillars of the cave began to crumble. Faith & Buffy started ushering the new slayers out of the cave, after they had all fled up the stairs, Buffy stood at the base with Spike. They were talking, Willow couldn't tell what was being said. Then Buffy took Spikes hand in hers, and a brilliant flame emerged, and Buffy clearly said 'I love you', she couldn't tell what Spike said in return, but as another pillar collapsed Spike released her hand and ushered her up the stairs. He stayed in the cavern, walls tumbling around him as he seemed to burn from the inside out, then became dust. Then scene then flashed to Buffy overlooking a crater, as the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign fell in. _Well helpful, but Spike has to die…_ Willow thought uneasy _Not sure that's the solution Buffy will want…_

All of them dead, Buffy, Faith, Slayerettes… Only Spike and her made it out alive, and just barley at that. _Why was Buffy wearing that glowy amulet? And that was so mean, she lied to Spike, at least seemed to say she'd be right behind him… That can't be how this plays out, we'd find a better way, or should I run from this apocalypse too?_ Anya thought to herself as she finished her sketch of the amulet then searched for a more helpful mirror.

The next pane was clearly at the Bronze, but not since they did their big re-do, before that, when it was still dingy. Buffy exited the dance floor and bumped into Spike, they talked for a bit, probably bickering, then Buffy got a weird look on her face. She stepped toward the vampire and pushed him against the post under the staircase, kept her hands on his chest and spoke to him with that same look on her face. Then Spike began to look sick, or maybe aroused. Buffy took a step back, and smiled, then Spike cocked his head down and gave her that wicked grin he had, then he stepped forward, grabbed the slayer by the waist and the back of her neck and kissed her hard. And Buffy did not pull back in revolution like Anya thought she would, instead she kissed him back with equal fervor and pushed them toward the door to the back ally. Once clear of the bar scene Buffy pulled open Spike's jeans as he slid down her leather pants. Without skipping a beat Buffy mounted her mortal enemy and fiercely rode his cock. The rough ordeal did not take long for either to feel that pleasure moment. After the rush of hormones subsided Spike had a look of wonder, and possibly love plastered to his face. While Buffy just said a content 'thanks' pulled her pants up and walked out of the ally. _Not so helpful with the FIRST, but pretty juicy._ _Wonder if that one was real?_

 _Now this one I recognize, Halloween 1997, careful what you wish for night. Where we all got to be our costumes, good times._ Xander thought as he watched the dimension unfold before him.

Solider Xander had just punched out a pirated version of Larry, giving him an odd sense of satisfaction. Then him, Angel, Cordelia, Ghost Willow, and 18th century Buffy were barricading a warehouse door to keep Spike and his gang from killing them all. Then the vampires and kid demons burst through the door, bashing Xander to the side as Spike knocked Angel down and made his minions hold him and grabbed Xander as well. Then Spike stalked up to helpless Buffy, smelled her, then pulled her head aside and bit down on her neck, and sucked the slayer dry, letting her limp body hit the floor. _Well, that would have sucked Xander thought No doubt he killed us next…_

 _There's something different, a beach house, Buffy thought. Maybe not an evil dimension, but not from the past._

Buffy stood on the deck of a beach house, gazing out over the ocean the sun setting in brilliant colors before her, absolutely breathtaking. Buffy noticed a heart shaped diamond ring on her left ring finger in the image. _Married, no way, heart shape diamond… Angel?_ Just then Spike walked up behind her, shirtless he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. Then Spike moved his hands up and settled on her belly, her very full belly… _Am I pregnant? And married to Spike? Not Spike's kid, it's not possible._ Buffy turned to face him on the balcony and lovingly kissed him, as he held her tight. After a little bit they broke the kiss and exchanged a few words and started walking inside. They descended a staircase into an open kitchen/dining/living room area where two kids were sitting on the couch. One was a boy, he looked to be about 12 years old, sitting there reading. He looked familiar, dirty blond hair & hazel eyes; but Buffy could not put her finger on who he looked like. The other child was a girl, probably about 14 years old, and the spitting image of Spike; piercing blue eyes, brown curly hair, those cheekbones, and she was taunting the boy relentlessly. Spike called over to the kids, placed the girl in a soft head lock, and probably said something to the extent of 'stop picking on the boy' or I guess, her brother… Then the family sat down for a meal, like a real family might, Mom, Dad, 2 kids, and one more on the way. Then the pane faded out. _No way… that's not even possible, unless it's a dimension where Spike was human, or became human… either way that's sooooo not this one… God I hope Spike did see that one…_

Andrew was mostly confused by the dimensions he was watching, but one caught his eye, _I think I know that bar, did we stop at it on our way to Mexico?_

A cowboy themed bar, in the middle of the desert, seemed like it hosted demon clientele, although since it seemed all of them were now dead. Bodies lying everywhere, parts of demons spread everywhere too… Yuck! Andrew thought. Then in the midst of all the guts and parts, Buffy and Spike were duking it out, possibly in a fight to the death, they both looked exhausted. Each successful blow having more effect than the last, then as Spike and Buffy were fighting on the catwalk level Buffy roundhouse kicked Spike and he landed in the worst place possible in her mind, a comfy couch. She cursed something to herself, then realized the structure she was standing on was ready to give way, more than 2 stories up from the ground. The only safe spot to land without breaking a bone or ten, the same couch Spike had just fallen on, and was now sprawled out gloating, probably about that perfect fall. He knew she'd have to join him there if she wanted to fall safely. The two hollered couple things back and forth, then Buffy leapt for the couch, and landed on top of Spike. Ouch… still softer than the floor I suppose. Then it seemed the pair took some kind of time out, they both sat on the couch catching their breath, then started drinking, then seemed to be talking, and laughing? Then there talking got more ambiguous, and they started getting closer to one another, then Buffy suddenly lunged in for a kiss, and Spike did anything but refuse. They continued to kiss feverishly, then Buffy who was already straddling Spike began to move and gyrate in the pelvic region. She was giving Spike a lap dance, and he was enjoying it, a lot! Then clothing started to peel off, soon they were naked, and going at it like rabbits. Passionate lovers, every touch seemed sensational. The sex-capades went on for a while, then both exhausted, laid naked on the couch together for a while, then got dresses and went to leave. Once the disheveled duo were outside Spike walked toward his car, and was seeming to offer the slayer a ride. After what seemed to be a bit of coursing Buffy got in the car, but the car stayed put, and the sex-capades continued. After a while more a van pulled into the lot, and the whole Scooby gang poured out of it; Giles, Willow, Oz, Cordelia, & Xander. They started looking around the lot, looking for their missing friend no doubt. Then Buffy gave Spike some kind of look… _Apologetic, not wanting to leave, a hint of love perhaps?_ Then Spike kissed her hand and she snuck out the car. The Slayer reunited with her friends, keeping her enemy lover's location a secret as she ushered everybody home. _I don't know if that dimension was helpful, but very cool and sexy… and educational…_

 _Dam'it, not another sex scene, I so don't need to see those two getting it on this much. And Andrew looked a little too intrigued watching that one… Just glad he didn't notice me watching it too, that would have been wayyyy awkward…_ Dawn thought _Helpful stuff, come on!_ She was learning a lot… but nothing on the main reason they were doing this spell, the whole avert the end of the world stuff she should be looking for. Just then she saw a pane that was coming into focus on an uber-vamp:

Not just one, hundreds, maybe thousands of them, the whole army Buffy saw in her vision. Marching down the streets of Sunnydale, and Spike was leading the charge, every house was being broken into as they marched, and the Turok-Han killed anyone inside, then they'd exit and rejoin the march, mouths fresh with blood. Then the 100 or so uber-vamps that Spike led turned down Revello Drive. As they approached, Spike signaled his army to hold. Then Buffy stepped out of the house, and all the potentials filed out behind her, forming their own lines on the lawn. Buffy walked down the sidewalk, and Spike walked up. They began talking, Buffy was clearly trying to be strong and stoic, but there seemed to be another expression escaping her face; _fear? hate? pain? betrayal? And why the hell did Spike switch sides? Is that the FIRST's plan, to turn him against Buffy? How's that even possible? Thought we fixed the trigger?_ Then in what seemed to be a last stitch effort, Buffy's features softened, and she brought a hand up to Spike's face. Clearly he was taken back by the gesture, but didn't pull away from it, instead his features began to soften as well. 'You still love me' Dawn thought she read from Buffy's lips, the rest of what she said was less discernable… 'away your soul', 'heart', 'always loved me', _god I need to get better at lip reading_ then Dawn read a clear 'I love you Spike' from her sisters lips just before they met Spike's for a fervent kiss the vampire simply couldn't refuse. Then Xander threw down a large heavy blanket from where he was hiding in the tree's branches just above them, covering them both. Then a brilliant light shone above them, emitting from the roof where Willow and Giles were. The light was as bright as the sun, and apparently carried the same features, because the uber-vamps started to burst into flames then turned to dust. The potentials cheered at the success of the plan, Willow was wiped out on the roof, Giles tended to her as Anya came up to help. But under the blanket there was no cheering, just the passion of a lover's embrace. _Okay, on the probable chance that this ends with more sex… new pane please_. Dawn thought to herself as she finished taking her notes.

Still caught up in the happy family ending, Spike tried to stay focused on the task at hand, _Lookin' for ways to beat back the FIRST, not to be happily ever after with Buffy… or ya know find one with both would be bleedin' fabulous!_ Then a very large, pustular demon came into focus on a pane. This may be promising:

A hideous looking demon loomed over Buffy in the quad on the college campus, loomed a good 4 feet over her. She looked helpless, or weak. _Why isn't she fighting back against this bastard?_ The boil covered demon got closer and closer to the slayer, she seemed paralyzed, she was sweating and breathing heavy. Then when the demon was within 5 feet from her another 'limb' grew from it's midsection. _Bloody hell! Please tell me I'm around the corner in this dimension…_ And sure enough Spike came roaring in and tackled the demon aside, he then looked to Buffy saw the ax by her side, grabbed it and proceeded to chop the creature's member clean off. The demon stumbled for a moment then fell to the ground, dead. With the demon dead Spike ran to Buffy's side, dazed and barely able to stand. She clung to him first for support, then started feeling up and down his body, pressing up against him. No way… _If Buffy did that every time I saved her we'd be in that other reality… What's going on here?_ Then Spike pulled Buffy off him looked at her very confused, said something, then swooped her up and headed for Buffy's house. Spike laid her on her bed, Buffy seemed to be begging him not to leave. Then he pulled a box out from under her bed and set it in front of the whimpering girl. Buffy pouted, and opened the box, pulling out a small silver object; she offered it to him, but the vampire refused and sat in the chair at the desk on the far side of the room. Buffy then proceeded to pleasure herself with the silver implement, and the moment after her bliss, the embarrassed slayer shooed him out of the room. Then the pane changed to another scene, this time three of the ugly buggers, Buffy was being held by two of them while the third advanced on her. And then came Spike, ax a swingin', hacking off penis after repulsive penis until 3 dead demons were on the ground. Then he looked to Buffy, passed out on the ground. Spike looked worried and tried to wake her, he looked around and saw the community pool. Probably thinking water might shock her awake, he ran her over, after running her under the cold water of the showers the slayer was sprung awake. After catching her breath, Buffy shared a look of thank you and wanting with the oddly noble vampire then she fused her lips to his. This time Spike gave in and held his love close and followed through with every plea she made. Soon enough the duo was making love on the shower room floor. _As much as I love this dimension… not so helpful._

Xander seemed to keep seeing the oddest of dimensions, most of which ended with either Spike killing Buffy, or Buffy grinding on Spike, both not so pleasant in Xander's mind… _Oh goodie, Ethan Rayne, what trouble is this chaos worshiping toad gonna cause… good thing I'm good with the lip reading, cause this guy's a chatter box…_

Ethan was pinned against the kitchen island by Spike, while Buffy leaned against the stove. 'Why do you make my life miserable?' Buffy asked 'Your life's more interesting to screw up than others, more chaos when you're distracted'. Ethan said as he gave a sideways smile to Spike, then the vampire morphed his face 'just tell the slayer what you came to say, or I'm havin' a little snack'. 'Okay okay!' Ethan was pretty sure Spike wasn't joking 'I like to live, so if the FIRST completely tips the scale like it wants to, I'm dead. So I do want you all to win this fight.' Buffy, understanding that Ethan was probably trying to be helpful, nodded to Spike, who let the man up from the counter, but kept his vamp face on. 'Over all the world needs balance to survive,' Ethan continued 'everything has its opposite, the yin to it's yang, and so does the FIRST'. Buffy and Spike looked at each other, confused and intrigued _Of course, how could we not see that before, the FIRST evil, what about the 'FIRST good'?_ 'So what you're saying the slayer is the opposite?' Spike asked 'No dear boy, you can't think with your heart. The slayer did not come from good, she gets her power from the essence of demons. You need to find the Guardians, the creatures who have been guiding the slayer to do good for centuries. Those that drove the true demons off this earth to allow humanity the chance to grow. That is your source of good mate. If the FIRST hasn't killed them all off already.' 'Where?' Buffy asked 'We haven't read anything about these guardians' 'You read anything about the FIRST?' Buffy shook her head 'Cause they both predate written word, and the Guardians only appear when they think they're needed, very tricky to find. But at least one tends to stay close to the current slayer, helps her in little ways you probably never noticed, but have saved your life.' What he was saying seemed to make sense. 'These Guardians, they their own entity, or they more of a spirit that works though people?' Spike inquired. 'Both, they have their own body, could be human, could be beast, but they all know magic, and can use it to influence others to do things.' Spike looked puzzled 'You think these buggers made it so I'd get a fancy government chip?' 'Perhaps, pretty much since then you've been fighting with and protecting the slayer, so yeah that'd be an easy twist of fate to assure the slayer's safety.' 'huh' was all Spike responded. 'So, you know where we can find one or should I be kicking you out of my house now?' 'That's all I got luv, until next time.' Then Ethan ran out the back door, before Buffy or Spike had a chance to harm him. 'Guardian hunting huh, how do you find someone who doesn't wanna be found?' Spike asked. Then Buffy replied with one word 'Bait.' Just then the image started to get fuzzy, like a bad T.V. screen.

Xander could kinda see into the circle where Buffy, Spike, and Willow were. Willow was starting to shake, and she looked like she was soaking wet. The spell was getting to be too much for her. Xander reached into the circle and pulled the witch out, causing the crystal panes to crash to the ground, and become the sand they were created from. Everyone in the room was confused and a little mad at Xander for ending the spell, then saw a passed out Willow in his arms and completely understood. Buffy and Spike were still holding hands, both trying to make sense of everything they saw, then Dawn handed Buffy a notepad and pen.

"Start writing before you forget anything important."

"Thanks Dawn," Buffy said as she accepted it with her free hand, then looked to her right hand and started to wiggle it free. After looking down at their intertwined fingers, Spike released her hand, and accepted the notepad Dawn was now offering him.


	5. Chapter 5: Getting Together Over&Over

Chapter 5 – Getting Together… Over & Over

It had been very quiet ever since the spell started, but now everyone seemed to have the last of their notes jotted. Buffy looked around at her friends, one of which was still passed out leaning against Xander as he looked over his notes. "Look, I think we should take a break from this, at least until Wil wakes up."

"I don't know Buffy, we may forget some crucial stuff," Dawn protested "I think it's best we try to hammer this out now, Willow can catch up when she wakes." Buffy was a little surprised at how her little sis was taking charge. She was probably right, but Buffy was trying to enter denial-vil where half of what she saw couldn't ever possibly happen…

"I agree with Dawn," Anya sounded "Not like we have a lot of time to waste, ya know probably."

Buffy looked around, everyone seemed to be in agreement to move forward. "Okay then, who wants to go first?"

"I will!" Andrew jumped in "So, on our way to Me-he-co, Jonathan and I saw this western themed bar, kind of in the middle of the desert. And lo and behold our two heroes were there, I did not see how but every creature in this demon bar was dead and we were left with Buffy and Spike in a fight to the death."

"I don't think that dimension will very helpful." Dawn interrupted.

"I don't know little bit, if he knows where this place is we could do some recon to see if anythin's related." Spike didn't see anything like what Andrew was explaining, so he honestly just wanted to know, helpful or not. "Go on Andrew, what kind of demon were the slayer and I duking it out with."

"Well you weren't fighting demons anymore," Andrew continued "No, no, you my vamperic friend were fighting Buffy to the death. I don't know when this took place, Buffy looked younger."

"What was her hair like?" Anya asked "Buffy has a different hairstyle most years, we can probably get an idea based on that."

"True, not like you can tell from Spike's hair. It's been blinding us the same way for years." Xander noted.

"Um well blond, and straight, up in chopsticks I think?" Andrew tried to remember.

"1997-98, Junior year sometime!" Buffy blurted like she was answering a quiz show. For the first time everybody cracked a smile and laughed a little. "What, chopsticks was so a late 90's thing, and I wore my hair a lot like that when Angel was evil, so I'd always have a stake on me."

"So you were fighting to the death cause he was still your mortal enemy," Xander filled in "Ah, good times."

"Okay, so their fighting is more understandable now." Andrew acknowledged "So after they fought for quite a while, they were getting very tired, they matched each other's blows quite well. Then they were fighting in the rafters of this shabby bar, Buffy managed to throw Spike down, but he landed on a plush couch."

"Some vamps have all the luck" Buffy joked, and made eye contact with Spike for the first time since the spell started.

"Yeah, always have pet" Spike acknowledged, grateful she was still speaking to him like a friend.

"But then, the Slayer realized the rickety beams would not continue to hold her for long, and after some banter back and forth from the two, Buffy sailed down to the couch, landing right on top of the vampire. After that the two made some kind of truce. So they both sat on the couch, chatting and drinking whisky for a while. I could not discern what was being said between the two, but it must have been something juicy because soon they were kissing each other with great fervor. Then clothing began to peel off and Spike put all us men to shame in how he was able to please Buffy with every touch. Like this one thing he did…"

"Okay, that's enough Andrew," Dawn protested "I caught a peek at that dimension too, nothing of their sex-capades at the saloon will help up beat back the FIRST. From now on if we have to tell a story that has sex in it, can we please not elaborate on the details."

"I agree," Buffy said, face flush from the previous story's pseudo ending.

"I had noticed that a lot of the dimensions had you two interlocking." Anya added.

"Yeah, seemed like all the ones I saw either ended with you two getting fleshy, or Spike killing Buffy." Xander pronounced.

"Okay, so if your story included more graphic details, just say they 'got together' how about that?" Dawn pleaded to the group.

"That'll work," Xander agreed.

"But what about the narrative flow and the erotic details?" Andrew begged.

"Andrew, personal stuff has a right to stay personal," Buffy tried to explain, then added bashfully "Whether it actually happened or not."

"But you were telling us to pay attention to every little detail, cause we don't know what will or won't be helpful"

"Boy, they ain't saying ignore what you saw, they're sayin simplify the snogging bits and expand on the more helpful pieces, all right?" Spike glared at him just to say ok so they could move on. Personally Spike would love to hear every sweaty detail of how he sprogged the slayer, or better yet he'd love to actually be allowed to touch her himself again.

"Fine, ruin the story."

"Anything else helpful Andrew?" Dawn asked

"Um, no. Everything else I saw actually happened I think. Like when Spike attacked the school on parent teacher night, and I saw Buffy singing to everybody at the bronze, with a weird red demon on stage with Dawn."

"Yeah, none of that's new to us." Dawn agreed "Buffy what did you see?"

"Nothing much, saw the Thanksgiving where we had our native vengeance visitors," everyone nodded understanding the timeline, except Andrew. She was not super ashamed to share this one since she knew Spike saw it anyway, and it didn't even happen. "Well sometime after the meal I was chaining Spike up in the tub, and he somehow convinced me to let him drink from my wound. Nothing else to that really. Then I saw Halloween night, where we all became our costumes, pretty much how I remembered it, so zilch new there." She paused really not wanting to share the next bit with Spike if he didn't see it, but resolved to sharing. "Then I saw a gorgeous beach house on an even prettier private beach," she glanced at Spike who was smiling a little, clearly he had seen it. "Spike and I, lived there, we were married, had two kids and one more was in the oven." Buffy looked around Willow was just starting to wake.

"Well that's an odd story to wake up to," Willow said as she stretched and sat up in her own chair.

"How you feeling Wil?" Buffy asked, getting ready to stand, but the witch waved her down.

"Fine, I was just wiped out. Pass out nap makes all good."

"So nothing else FIRST-ish Buffy?" Dawn prodded, wanting to keep things moving.

"Nope."

"Okay, Anya, what did you see?"

"Well, I saw an amusing dimension where Spike and Buffy 'get together' at the Bronze, but Buffy's hair was all crimpy, so it would have been a couple years ago and nothing was really FIRST relevant."

"Okay, anything else?"

"Yes, this one was sad, but helpful. Spike, Buffy, Faith, and all the cannon fodder went down into the seal, and found that army of super vampires, they all started fighting, the potentials were getting slaughtered. A few uber-vamps made it upstairs to where we humans were ready to defend, all but me died. Then this amulet thing Buffy was wearing started shining and was like instantly dusting all the vampires. She started shooing people upstairs, only a couple of potentials made it up before an uber-vamp killed them. Then Buffy insisted Spike leave too, I think she told him something like 'I'm right behind you', so he kissed her and obeyed her command. Unfortunately she got all burned up by the amulet and died, almost like a vampire does, just slower. When Spike got upstairs he, found me and we left the school building. The ground started to quake so we got on the bus and kept driving. The town was caving in on the hellmouth. Finally when we were out of the city limits the cave in stopped, Sunnydale was gone, and only Spike and I survived."

"Great, I get to die again," Buffy muttered.

"Not happening pet," Spike comforted, just as upset about that dimension's outcome, "No shiny bobbles for you." Buffy smiled a little at the vampire's concern.

"I think I saw the inverted dimension of that Anya" Willow started "Same thing Buffy, Spike, Faith and all the potentials went down into the seal. They started fighting the army, but the potentials were holding their own, like they had slayer strength. Then that amulet that Anya mentioned, it started going off in the same way, but Spike was wearing it. The cave started to collapse, then Spike sent Buffy upstairs after everybody else, then he slowly burned and turned to dust. Everyone else was fighting off the Bringers upstairs, and Anya was killed in the fight. So everybody but Spike and Anya made it to the bus. And same thing, big Sunnydale crater where the hellmouth was."

"So any idea where this amulet came from?" Xander inquired "I mean yes it kills who's wearing it, but it got the job done."

"No, it was just there," Willow explained "About 2-3 inches in diameter, looked like a large diamond, with some kind of black gold backing."

"So we go find that amulet, go get the ring of amara from our good old buddy Angel, then I wear that and the amulet and save the day!" Spike laid out, then looked to an offended Anya "And we just gotta watch so Anya don't get killed too."

"Angel kinda destroyed the ring," Buffy stated "He didn't think he deserved it and he didn't want it falling into the wrong hands, or chance him turning into Angelus while wearing it…"

"That bloody poofter, thinks he knows everythin'."

"Okay that's some good info Willow." Dawn said, trying to get back on sharing mode "What else did you see?"

"Um well, I think I saw when Spike tried to, um, take Buffy, last spring." Willow started and looked up at her friend for some hint if it were true. "In the main hall bathroom upstairs. Ended with Buffy kicking Spike across the room and him leaving." Spike looked away from the judging eyes of the group, still ashamed of what he had done.

"Yeah, that was that." Buffy acknowledged, not needing Willow to expand on the details.

"So yeah, that's really all I saw cause after a little bit I had to really focus my energy on just keeping the spell going."

"Did they talk for a bit before anything happened Willow?" Dawn tried to clarify.

"Well, yeah, he tried to talk it out before getting physical."

"I think I caught the alternate ending of that. They were talking in the bathroom, then Spike started crying, and broke down on the floor, Buffy comforted him for a bit, seemed like they were trying to work it out. Then Buffy gave Spike the sweetest kiss and winced in pain. Spike became very concerned and led her to her bedroom where he gave her a message, then I think they 'got together' cause more clothes kept coming off both of them."

"hm" was all anyone could offer to that story.

"So yeah that was one thing I saw. Spike you can go next."

"Oh me, um nothin' too helpful I spect." Trying to shrug her off and get her to move on.

"Spike." Dawn insisted.

Spike exhaled, thinking back on the different realities he saw, all of which could have or could still happen, with the slightest change… "Fine, well I saw a couple that Buffy saw too, the blood feeding at thanksgiving, and the married one. Also saw another one where these large nasty looking demons kept trying to mate with Buffy, thing is she was like paralyzed when she faced them or something. So I had to keep saving her by chopping off their dicks, apparently the only way they died." Spike didn't feel like sharing the more intimate details of that dimension with anyone but Buffy, if she would even listen.

"Zuxugna demons," Anya supplied "They only mate every couple hundred years, and the only way to kill them is when they're aroused and you chop of their penis."

"You know about those ugly buggers?"

"Yes, I've been to their dimension before, it's an interesting place. But I'm told not to go during their mating season though, the pheromones are so strong they incapacitate you until you've had an orgasm. But good news is I don't believe they are agents of the FIRST."

"Ewe, um is that it Spike?" Dawn pried.

"Yeah, see I got nothin' relevant to the big FIRST problem, little bit, who's next? You?"

"Oh, I suppose I can go. So I saw the alternate bathroom scene like I said, also saw the Glory showdown as it happened; so nothing new there. But I also saw Spike leading an army or Turok-Han." Spike shot his young friend a 'what the hell!' kind of look. "So yeah, Spike was leading a hundred or so across town, raiding houses and killing anyone in their path as they walked. The remaining army was probably raiding the rest of town. Then Spike's crew came up our street, and stopped in front of the house. And then Buffy and all the potentials came pouring out ready to fight. Buffy and Spike met in the middle and talked, I couldn't tell much of what was being said, but I think Buffy was just trying to buy time."

"Whys that?" Xander asked.

"Cause after they had a chance to talk for a bit, Buffy pulled Spike close and you threw a blanket over the both of them from above, you were in the tree. Then Willow who was on the roof of the house finished her spell and a blinding sunlight filled the sky and killed all the Turok-Han we could see. I don't think it killed all of them, just the ones in range of the spell, so you know army still in town."

"You figure why I switched sides?"

"Not sure, brainwashed maybe, or the FIRST used that trigger?" Dawn supplied "Buffy seemed to be getting through to you, though, probably why she cued Xander to save you from the artificial sun."

"Hm, any clue what she was saying? May give us a clue as to how or why it happened." Willow pried.

"No not really, 'your soul' 'heart' 'betrayed' I only caught a word here or there. Spike didn't really talk at all." Dawn looked over at Spike, who seemed deep in thought "I didn't see any clue as to why and how, it was all just happening."

"I never gotten my ball of sunshine spell to work though, so how is that even possible to do?"

"We could maybe look into the spell again tomorrow Willow, a fresh non-magic brain may see something you can't." Dawn suggested

"Yeah, good idea Dawnie. Maybe if we can figure out the sunshine spell we can go down into the hellmouth and use then instead of the killer amulet?"

"Sounds promising," Buffy said, actually a little hopeful "We miss any stories?"

Xander raised his hand "Mostly irreverent stuff, but one intriguing one that should be helpful."

"Go for it Xand, irrelevant first just to say you shared it."

"Thanks Buff. So I got to see an alternate Halloween where Spike got to kill Buffy, not so fun. Saw Spike and Buffy 'getting together' outside the double meat palace, which I'm guessing was true and not relevant to our current problems?"

Buffy looked down, hand over her face, and then finally said "Yeah, that one's true from last year."

"Okay, unimportant stories done now for the good one." Then Xander proceeded to tell the gang every detail about what Ethan enlightened to Spike and Buffy in another dimension, all about needing to find the guardians and getting them to help even the score. Xander chose to include Spike's question about his chip, since it did help clarify what the guardians were capable of. Spike got the same look on his face as he did in the mirror, used and confused if he should really be here feeling the way he does about Buffy. "… Then Buffy said 'Bait'. So yeah, that's when I noticed, Willow, ready to collapse and I pulled her out to stop the spell."

"You think these guardians, are the ones who give us this amulet?" Dawn asked.

"Maybe, what I said is really _everything_ I saw, didn't leave anything out." Xander clarified.

"It make's sense though, that there is a force as equally powerful as the FIRST out there." Andrew commented "Otherwise where's the balance coming from?"

"Yes, good point Andrew" Dawn agreed. "So what, do we have to put Buffy in dire peril while we all wait to see if anyone or anything makes a move to help?"

"Kinda lookin that way. Spike and I will work on finding a guardian while we go patrol." Buffy looked to Spike for an 'ok', he was a little thrown, but agreed, and stood up from his spot around the table and put on his coat. "Willow and Dawn can get to work on that sunshine spell business. Xander, make a list of some close calls for me, maybe we can find a connection as to who or what my guardian may be. Anya & Andrew, go chat up some nicer demons, see if you can dig anything up on these guardians. Everyone good?" With no one refuting the plan, Buffy grabbed a few weapons and met Spike at the door, and the two headed to the closest cemetery.


	6. Chapter 6: The Whole Story

Chapter 6 – The Whole Story

Spike and Buffy walked side by side through the second cemetery, neither one saying a word to each other since they left the house. Buffy couldn't help it, if the vampire wasn't gonna break the tension, she would. "So, that was a new kind of fun to have all my friends see us bump uglies." was that the best she had, _oh god why did I say that…_ wishing she could take it back and try a new ice breaker.

Spike just chuckled "Well friends, and your little sis, maybe you were right luv, too much adult content for her."

"Oh God! I knew we should have kept her out of it. You're the one who told me she'd be fine!"

"Relax luv, she is, besides if she wasn't watching we mighta missed the ball of sunshine bit, and me betraying you to lead my own army."

"Yeah, what the hell was that about? You'd never do that."

"Dam right."

"So, what did you leave out?"

"What's that pet?"

"You clearly cut your stories way down, what did you not want to tell the group?"

"Well there was one story I didn't feel the need to share with the gang. I didn't share cause I knew it wasn't relevant to our problem at hand."

"Okay." She answered skeptically as she gestured him to continue.

"So back when Glory wanted Dawn, Riley stayed, you two were still together or somethin'," Spike gestured to Buffy "And him and his sneaky soilder-ness saved Dawn from the tower, before the portal could be opened, so you didn't have ta jump. And I think I died in that fight. The pane went dark after Dawn was saved." His displeasure clear on his face with that dimension.

"Oh," was all she could muster at first "So in an alternate reality Riley stayed, and saved the day?"

"Just think, if ya would've swallowed your pride you wouldn't hav' had to die." He tried to josh, Buffy tried to let out a chuckle, but was caught up thinking about her decisions. "Don't fret about it too much luv, nothing we can do about it now. Hell I spent the whole bloody summer coming up with all the ways I should have been able to save you."

A small smile escaped her lips "Yeah, I remember you telling me that. Right after you bashed your hands in to try and match my pain." Spike rubbed the back of his neck and rolled his eyes. "By the way, I know you lied to me when I came back."

He was taken back "'bout what?"

"You never crawled your way out of a coffin Spike." She raised an eyebrow expecting an admission of guilt but his face didn't change. "When Dru sired you, you didn't have a funeral."

"Oh, no wasn't stuck in a coffin then, But I have been locked in a coffin on other occasions. Once your ol' pal Angel did it to me to 'teach me a lesson'."

"Must not have worked."

"Not a lick." He smirked.

"Okay, so that's one story. What else did you neglect to tell the group for my sanity?"

 _Well here's your chance Spike tell her all the little details you loved to see unfold and see if she wanted them too… or see if she'd run away like this morning…_ "Well you heard what Anya said about those zoo-shrug demons, the pheromone stuff."

"Yeah"

"Well that makes sense, cause in that dimension I saved you from them cause you couldn't fight, then you were all over me. I brought you home and had you pleasure yourself with that little trinket under your bed. Then you were back to your normal self."

"Wait, I did that in front of you, because you wouldn't have me? In what dimension do you not want me? Cause to me it seemed like every single one of them you did." Buffy ranted, actually getting angry with the vampire.

"I always want you pet, but with the pheromone thing you didn't want me, you just wanted to shag. So I wasn't gonna take advantage of ya."

"Oh," Buffy calmed down "I get that. So what else?"

"Well that kept happening in that one, each time I save you then you get all hot and heavy, and I'd take you home to tend to yourself. Then one time you were on your own and three of them ganged up on you."

"They gang banged me?!"

"No luv, I came just in the knick and saved ya." Buffy breathed a sigh of relief for her other dimensional self.

"Thanks for that." Spike looked worried "What happened next that you look so nervous about?"

"Well with three of those ugly buggers, they knocked you out, too much of those pheromones I guess, so I ran you over to the pool, and ran you uner a cold shower. That woke you up but you were still all worked up, you started kissing and touching me, and… well I gave in. I made love to you." He sat down on a nearby tombstone "You didn't seem mad at me after that though… in case you are right now."

"I don't know," Buffy joined him on the rock. "I feel like I should be, but I mean it didn't really happen, none of it did, well most of none of it." She took a breath "But at the same time, all of it happened, somewhere, I mean that's how we were able to see everything." Then she became lost in her thoughts, clearly another dimension on her mind.

"Any niceties you wanna share luv?"

"Well, like the blood thing after thanksgiving, almost coulda happened, cause you were begging relentlessly and Angel had just pissed me off. But I knew what a bite could feel like… so obviously I didn't even wanna go there with my mortal enemy."

"Really, how'd you know the fire of a bite?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Angel, Faith shot him with a venom that can only be cured by drinking from a slayer. So I made him drink from me, and it was, intense, and a bit erotic if I'm gonna be honest. Hence why I didn't actually give in and let you drink that day."

"Hm, you think if you had we'd be in that married dimension right now?"

"I knew you were gonna pry about that one," hoping he'd leave it at that.

"Com'on Luv, before you were shook back to reality, what'd you think?"

Staring down at her fidgeting hands she began to explain "Saw the house, loved it. Saw the beach, loved it. Saw the ring, confused but happy I found someone. Saw you wrap your arms around me, didn't believe it." She looked up at Spike's now downcast face "Saw your arms were around a pregnant belly, proud it was yours, & I didn't believe it more. Then after we went in the house and saw those two beautiful kids, I had to believe they were ours." Spike looked up "I mean that girl was the spitting image of you, your eyes, your cheekbones, I'd say your hair, but," she stroked his platinum blond head.

Spike chuckled, not taking his eyes off her "Well since we're being honest, the daughter's hair was mine too, naturally anyway." Buffy smiled and gave Spike a _really?_ look, and Spike smiled back in turn. "But that little boy was all you Summers, your beautiful blond hair, hazel eyes, that cute nose."

"Ohhh!"

"What luv?"

"Nothing, just the boy looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on who, and well, me duh!"

"Spittin image of his mum," they both were beaming at the thought, Buffy kept trying to picture Spike with curly brown hair, but it just wasn't coming. "I'd love to meet those kiddies someday, all three."

Reality was jerking her back, as the blushing grin left her face. "To bad that'll never happen in this dimension. Kinda need to be human to have the wife and kids thing work."

"Yeah, I guess," disheartened by the cold slap of reality "So that 'never' this morning still rings true, even after nearly every dimension telling you we should be together. That's not a logical enough reason for ya pet?" _Easy Spike, you're gonna make her prance off._ He could tell she was about to pop up, so he softened his words and continued. "I'm sorry luv, you throw me is all. This morning you're trying to tell me to stay away from you but now here we are patrolling and chatting like always, even reveling in the idea of our beautiful kids. But you still got that look like you wanna run."

"Kinda do," she admitted "How do you always know what I'm thinking before I do?"

"I know my girl, usually." After a moment, Buffy stood up

"Patrolling then?"

"Right pet," Spike stood and picked up the ax he had set down "Off we go to kill things."

* * *

"Willow?"

"Yeah, Dawnie?"

"You think they're gonna actually end up together?" The two were alone in the dining room, still researching the sunshine spell logistics, everyone else had gone to bed around 11:00.

Willow looked up from her book, "Who?" Dawn gave her that _really?_ look the summers girls were so good at. "Oh, Spike & Buffy. Dawn I'm not sure you should be getting your hopes up for that, I know you like Spike but he's done a lot of damage, and he is a vampire."

"But they ended up together in most every dimension."

"Yeah, the ones where Spike didn't kill Buffy."

"The dimension I talked about, with the sunshine spell, that looked so easily like it could be a future for this one."

"Yeah, I get that, but they weren't together at the end."

"They were, I just didn't feel the need to expand on it." Willow looked a bit confused at the teen "I don't know exactly what she said cause I'm not a crazy good lip reader like Xander. But I'm almost positive she said she loved him, then she pulled him in for a kiss, that's when Xander threw the blanket on top. She was pulling him out of whatever trance or spell or whatever was controlling him, with, love! And after the uber-vamps were gone, and everyone else was celebrating; they stayed under their blanket, catching up."

"Dawn just cause you liked how it turned out there doesn't mean it's gonna happen."

"I know, I'm just asking what you think?"

"Honestly, after _watching_ him attempting to rape your sister, it's different."

"Well, not to make lite of it, but if he had never done that, would he have gone to the ends of the earth to get his soul?"

"…I suppose not, since he hadn't up until then…"

"Look I didn't see any of the bad stuff, I just managed to see lots of sex, but they seemed to go together so well. I think, I mean it didn't look awkward…"

"They've always been a good match Dawnie, I think that's why they've never killed each other, neither one was really able to."

"I can see that, but I'm also gonna add that I think they've honestly loved each other, deep down from the moment they met. That's why it never fully worked with Riley, Buffy didn't commit as much as him, and not because of her slayer studies, me, or Mom."

"When did you get all insightful?" Willow asked, kind of astonished by the teens intuition on personal matters.

Dawn laughed "Spike asked me the same thing earlier." Just then the kitchen door opened and the aforementioned 'couple' strode in. "How was patrolling?" trying not to be too loud to wake the sleeping potentials.

"Eh," Buffy said as she handed her weapons to Spike who went to quietly put them back "One lousy vamp, no FIRST agents. Anything I should know tonight?"

"Nah, Dawnie & I are still working on the sunshine spell. Xander's got your list together, he'll go over it with you tomorrow."

"And, I guess Andrew and Anya heard a couple of things, but it's easier for them to explain it." Dawn finished.

"So this mean I actually get to go to bed?" Buffy asked excited as Spike slunk back in the room.

"Yeah, I think me and Willow are gonna call it a night too."

"Good idea Dawn, sleep for brain equals good." With that the braniacs headed for the stairs.

"Kay, I'll be right up just gonna grab a munchie."

"Night Buffy, Night Spike." Dawn imparted as she made her way up the stairs after Willow.

Buffy looked up at Spike after grabbing a small bag of chips and a water. "Well, thanks for the help Spike."

"You didn't need me to go with ya, Slayer."

"Not tonight so much, but I do enjoy the company." Spike gave her a curious glance, then she added, "And besides if we did find something super evil tonight I know you always got my back." Buffy started to pass Spike toward the stairs then stopped next to him. "Goodnight Spike." She said with a smile.

Spike reached his hand to her face, resting it against her cheek. Then stepped closer and kissed her free cheek and said a sweet "Night luv" into her ear then stepped away to let her pass. She walked on to the stairs, trying to conceal her school girl blush, Spike watched her as she went then descended to his cot in the basement. _I think that went pretty well mate._ He thought to himself with a smug grin.


	7. Chapter 7: Finding the Pieces

Chapter 7 – Finding the Pieces

 _Ah, the pitter patter of clompy teenage girly feet, potentials are up and moving. Back to bed._ Then the basement door creaked open. Or not… Dawn came prancing down the stairs. "Morning Spike!"

"Hey little bit," he replied as he begrudgingly sat up "What's up? Why the early wake-up?"

"Well unless you wanna become a part of the potential training slash info session I suggest you go hide elsewhere."

"Kinda sunny out nibblet" the vampire said as he stretched on his cot, and threw his t-shirt on. "Where ya spect I go?"

"Well Buffy's out for her morning run, so her rooms free, I pulled the shades for ya."

"Kay then, thanks for the warning little bit," Spike sauntered toward the stairs, dressed in black as usual.

"No problem, I think the potentials are a little afraid of you, since they wanted me to come down and move ya."

"Glad ta know someone's still afraid of me."

"Well they're easily scared, everything trying to kill um and all."

"Thanks," he said half-heartedly as he donned his leather jacket "You think they'd be more scared if I tried to eat one?"

"Yeah, but then Buffy would get all pissy," Dawn suggested "You don't wanna make her mad at you after last night."

"What's that now?"

"Nothing."

"Big sis tell you something I should know?"

"No, I haven't even had a chance to talk to her since the spell. She ran off to patrol with you in such a hurry."

"So what'chya gettin' at?"

"It's just, I still think you got a shot since like every dimension practically screamed that you two should be together," she finally blurted.

"Thank you! That's what I was trying to bloody tell her!" Spike blurted back.

"I mean, isn't that why she pulled you away to go patrolling so quick?"

"Kinda what I thought at first too." He replied sourly "But once I brought that point up, she almost bolted on me."

"Hmm, well that's what I saw yesterday. And havin you around permanently, kind of awesome in my mind."

"Love you too little bit." Spike said sweetly and kissed the young woman's forehead. "Just gotta figure out how to make me mortal but still strong enough to fight by the slayers side, then were golden."

"That's her big hang up, you're gonna out live her?"

"More or less, she don't wanna re-live the love & loss drama of Mr. Broody."

"Oh," there was a moment of silence followed by the door creaking open, and five different eyes peeking down to see if Dawn had woken Spike yet. "Oh, remember I'm kicking you out." She reminded with a little smile. With that the duo ascended the stairs. Dawn then ushered the potentials down into the basement, and Spike snuck past the mob up the stairs into Buffy's room.

After he closed the door behind him Spike took a long sniff of the room. _God, Buffy… your scent is intoxicating in here._ Then out of curiosity, he stepped up to the bed and looked under it by the nightstand, sure enough he saw the same box from the pheromone happy dimension. _So that wasn't so far fetched._ He opened it up just to see; _yup same one_. He chuckled to himself as he put the box back in it's hiding place. Then he laid down on the bed and placed his coat over himself like a blanket and drifted back to sleep.

* * *

When Buffy returned from her morning jog the house seemed so quiet. "Hello?" she called out.

"In here Buffy," Willow hollered from the kitchen, Buffy finished kicking off her shoes and passed a small mountain of books on the dining table on her way to the kitchen where Dawn & Willow were sitting at the island drinking some tea.

"Brain break?" Buffy asked

"Pretty much," Dawn agreed "We've been at it since you left."

"Where's everyone else?"

"They're doing that weapons demo with Xander & Anya, and I think Andrew is trying to help." Dawn explained "Looked rainy so Xander didn't wanna do it outside, or in the living room where breakable things live."

"So they're all downstairs?"

"Yup."

"So how's my little ball of sunshine coming?"

"Still workin' on it." Willow underwhelmingly stated "I've kinda been working on this for 2 years on and off, and now that I'm focusing on it, with help even," she drifted as her head gently plopped against the counter.

"Hence the tea," Dawn said as she rubbed the frustrated which's back.

"So what's the hold up with it? Maybe a fresh Buffy brain can help."

Face still smooshed against the counter Willow replied "Well I can make light, no problem," she pulled her head up and faced her friend by the stove. "Thing is it's not true sunlight so it won't make vamps go poof, maybe just blind um. It has to be an actual sun to dust um."

"Making the school building and the ground above the cavern disappear impossible?" Buffy asked as she crossed the kitchen to the fridge.

"Maybe could, but it'd be slow and loud, providing the army plenty of time to kill us or run for cover." Willow responded.

"So making a giant skylight won't work…" Buffy thought taking a big gulp from the water she grabbed from the fridge.

Willow was deep in thought, then her eyes grew wide. "Hey, what if we went to that dimension you saw Dawnie and asked other dimension Willow how to do the spell?"

"Maybe, but isn't interdimensional travel kinda dangerous? Like no guarantees back to your own?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, but that spell is seeming like our best chance at beating the uber-vamps back without killing me or Spike in the process. I mean you said Willow was whipped out but not dead, right?"

"Yeah," she replied, still unsure about wanting to send anyone dimension jumping. "What about a dimensional skylight?" Dawn pondered out loud.

"What's that Dawnie?" Buffy asked.

"Well we looked at a bunch of dimensions, what about actually opening a portal to a really sunny one, not to go there but to just let the sun shine through and dust the whole army. I'd be like shooting evil fish in a barrel. And the handful that may get away we can kick their ass!"

"Ya know, that may work. I'd have to be a dimension where the sun effects vampires the same way."

"So make it one we saw, then we know the same basic rules apply."

"Like that one on with the beach house seems like I'd be super sunny." Buffy offered.

"Yeah like that!" Dawn was getting very excited about her newest idea. "Alright back to the books Willow." She sprang up from her chair "How to open the door to a dimension without needing to kill a shiny key. Cause I'd rather not die too."

"Okay, lets go." Then the three of them cracked open a few books and got into research mode.

* * *

Xander joined the ladies in the dining room some time later, placing plates of freshly made spaghetti in front of each lady. Then took a seat himself among the books. "So now all the ladies should know the difference between a mace and an ax and how to use um best." He proudly announced.

"Thanks Xander," Buffy said as she raised her plate to him "on both counts," then shoved a fork full of spaghetti in her mouth.

"So what did my lovely ladies research dig up? A sunshine prescription for all the nasty vamps?"

"Almost," Dawn mumbled as she finished a mouthful "Trying to see how long we can expose another dimension's sun since we can't seem to figure out how to create our own."

"Oh, so open up a window and let the sun shine in. I like it. Can you do it Wil?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out, every portal I've seen is just kind of a colorful blob, you don't exactly see where you're going." Willow pointed out "So we want between a window and a door, a door you can actually go though and interact with it, but a window you can see everything, like we did yesterday."

"Gotch'ya, So you need a sliding door? Or a screen door?" Xander offered.

"Pretty much, thing is it seems to be more work or impossible cause nobody seems to have tried it, not so far at least." Dawn supplied.

Plate nearly empty Buffy inquired to Xander "So, any connections between my close calls?"

"Oh, um," Xander pulled out a list from his pocket and looked it over briefly. "Well the thread I saw was us honestly your friends, if you didn't have us in most of your close calls you would have been dead a long time ago. And as much as it pains me to say it, Spike's included in that group, especially after he started helping incessantly."

"Okay, so what are the forces keeping us all together? How could a guardian be manipulating things?" Buffy inquired further.

"Well like Ethan said in the other dimension, after Spike got his chip that led to you getting a lot more help and he has saved your life a few times." Dawn chimed in, Xander didn't like the answer but he agreed with the girl's point.

"Do the guardians know their guardians?" Willow asked.

"I believe so," Xander supposed "That's how Ethan made it sound, like they're purpose for living was to be a guardian for a specific person or thing."

"Well if they didn't then I would say Spike was a guardian, he never actually killed her when he was evil and he has protected her since he got that chip, and now a soul." Willow suggested.

"You think Wil?" Buffy asked setting her fork down on an empty plate.

"Right up until he tried to rape you." Xander couldn't help but intervene.

"Xander!" Dawn looked shocked.

"It's okay Dawn, you all know it happened, and Spike's truly sorry he did it. It's of the past." The group got quiet, thinking about that eerie incident. "Well I can think of any person or demon we know that may be a guardian for me or us, so we go with plan B."

"Which is?" Xander asked.

"Bait, put me in imminent danger and see who or what intervenes to save me then question them on the FIRST."

"So how do we safely put you in danger?" Willow asked.

"Make it seem like Spike turned on me? He's got the chip out, he could hurt me if he wanted to, or if the FIRST seemed to trigger him again."

"But if the guardians are this world manipulating force of good, won't they know it's an act?" Dawn inquired.

"Maybe, but if the blows are real they may have to get too close to find out." Buffy continued.

"So our two super people will be all laid up and bruised when the act is done, then the FIRST can swoop in and kill us all." Xander presented.

"Anything else where I'm in real danger may be a worse ending, and we need info now." The group was silent, not coming up with a better way to draw the silent puppet masters out. "Look I'll run it by Spike, if he thinks it's a bad idea or it won't even work we'll think of something else."

"I suppose, see if the honorary guardian would even be onboard, and we'll go from there." Willow granted. The group nodded in some agreement. Then continued their dimensional research.

"Great. Where's Andrew and Anya at?" Buffy asked "Didn't you say they heard something in their demon chasing yesterday?"

"Oh, yup, we would have filled ya in but you know way easier from the horse's mouth" Dawn said before she shoveled the last dollop of spaghetti into her mouth.

"They were in the kitchen serving lunch, probably cleaning up now." Xander inserted.

"Well then hand me your plates and I'll give them a hand cleaning up while they fill me in." Buffy gathered up everyone's sauce covered plates and headed for the kitchen. Just as Xander thought the duo was washing and drying the tall stack of dished from the lunch for 30+ fighters. "Hey guys" she announced as she added her plates to their pile. "So the demons gonna be helpful to our fight for good?"

"Not very, but we more or less confirmed that the guardian business Xander saw is a real thing." Anya started.

"That's reassuring, I'd hate to be trying to find something that didn't actually exist." Buffy said relieved as she started to put the dry pots away.

"Yeah, you mention the name and demons are all like 'ughh, those guys always foil my evil plans'." Andrew elaborated.

"Really, that's what they said?" she looked to Anya for confirmation or denial.

"More or less, got a few stories of how a guardian had messed up their plans. Like this one demon, was gonna by demon eggs from Spike back when he was evil, but the guardian tipped off Riley, so you and Riley killed all the demon eggs before they got to market."

"I remember them. You guy's chat with Willy?" Buffy asked.

"Of course, but he wasn't super helpful like he can be." Anya explained.

"Hmm. Any other stories with juicy details?" Andrew and Anya went on to share a few more, 'the slayer foiled my plan' stories, but nothing seemed to connect. By the time the dishes were dried and away it was just past three. "Well thanks for your work you guys, demon wise and household. If you think there's some more places to hit up, still got a few hours before sunset; otherwise they're researching dimensional portals and sunlight in the other room."

"I'm up for tryin to squeeze some more info out of a demon, You in?"

"You got enough bribe money to squeeze more info?" Anya asked.

"Yeah, I'm good, lots left from my evil villain days, see I'm using it for the side of good so you know that's good and repenty right?" Andrew looked to Buffy for assurance.

Wanting to leave the conversation she simply replied "Sure Andrew. I think I'm gonna try to take a nap before sunset and all the nasties come out. Thanks again guys." They all exited the kitchen to the dining room Andrew went to grab Anya and his coat while she paused by the research group with Buffy.

"Me and the nerdy one are gonna go chat up some more demons."

"You think there's more to figure out?" Willow asked.

"Won't know until we try, and it's not like we got to everywhere on our list before."

"Okay, makes sense." Dawn replied "Buffy what should the potentials be doing? You gonna lead them in some training stuff?"

"Nope, sounds way too exhausting right now, Buffy's brain and body need a brief break before the sun sets again. Dawn you wanna tell Kennedy to lead a workout for the girls? They could do for something less strenuous than yesterday. And keep it to the backyard, just in case."

"Sure thing," She popped up out of her seat and headed for the living room, she loved bossing the wanna-bes around.

"And I'm off for a nap, if I sleep much past sunset come wake me." Buffy announced, then after receiving a few nods from her friends she headed up the stairs.


	8. Chapter 8: Hell of a Woman

Chapter 8 – Hell of a Woman

It was dark in her room, Buffy didn't remember pulling the shades this morning. She was too tired to care. She didn't sleep so good the night before, thinking of all the dimensions she saw the day before, all the different possibilities for her life, including one that actually seemed normal. Well except for the part where the husband was Spike, that was still too weird to wrap her head around. Buffy shed her jacket and tossed it at the end of the bed, and sat down, peeling off her socks, and snuggled under the covers in her jogging pants and a tank top. Then she went to roll on her right side, but was blocked…

"What the?" she pushed the object out of her way and off the bed, a little heavier than she was expecting, did she leave a weapons bag on her bed, then she heard a familiar yelp.

"Oww," Spike moaned as he hit the floor, then popped his head over the edge of the bed to see who shoved him off "Bloody hell slayer, what'd ya do that for?"

"Sorry Spike," She said sitting up, and turned on the lamp on her nightstand. "Just thought I left clothes on the bed so I shoved um off for more room." Then the thought for a moment, then started to get mad. "And why the hell were you in my bed anyway?"

"Not in it, on it," Spike defended "Was using my coat as a blanket and everythin'."

"I restate, why are you in my room at all Spike?" getting more annoyed.

"The girls needed to commandeer the basement this morning, your little sis said I could crash up here for the day."

"Oh," she said starting to relax "She didn't say anything to me."

"Of course she didn't." Spike stated bluntly as he sat down on the bed where he was just shoved off, "You know she's working an evil plot."

"And what's that?"

"She's trying to get us together."

"And why would she be doing that?" Buffy laughed a little as she asked

"Guess she likes having me around, and I suppose she had her bloody eyes open yesterday."

Buffy could see he was getting upset. _Maybe we should just talk this out; but the only thing that's gonna change this is her admitting she loves him, which may or may not be true, and could easily end in a whole world of badness… And why's he have to be so pushy, it's only been 2 years or so of him obsessing over her, longer if you include the hate-love-stalker relation when he wanted to kill her… that's not that long…_ she tried lying to herself.

"Slayer?" Spike said trying to snap her out of her thoughts, not really sure what thoughts he'd triggered.

She looked up at him, right into those blue eyes that always saw right through her… "What do you want Spike?"

A hundred answers raced through his head, _She didn't throw me out after that last comment, so she may be open to talking about this. But God knows she scares easy, gotta tread lightly._ "You know what I want pet, hasn't changed. We know what your sis wants. We know what Xander wants. Willow goes back and forth, but she mostly sticks with you pet. What we all don't know is what do you want Buffy?"

"Well it's no wonder none of you know because I don't even know Spike!" she practically yelled "God I wish I did! I wish I knew what I could tell Dawn, or Xander, or Willow, or you, cause you all keep asking questions I don't know the answer to! How do we defeat the FIRST? We all gonna make it through this one? You and Spike a thing now?" Buffy was working herself into a flurry, completely forgetting how tired she was a few minutes ago and overwhelming herself with the upcoming apocalypse. "And the few dimensions we saw that could actually help us are proving otherwise, just confusing us more, cause we can't figure out how any of it happened; and I don't like the ones where I die in the process, and I'm pretty sure I don't like the ones where you die either, and I'm not sure if that means what you want it to and…"

"Buffy!" Spike interrupted her, and pulled her head to face him. _When did he get so close?_ He was sitting beside her on the bed, face just a few inches from hers. "Take a breath luv," she did as she was told, breath pungent with garlic, the vampire was taken back from the discussion at hand and had to ask "You have a garlic clove for lunch, pet?"

Her face relaxed "No, just some spaghetti."

"Ah," her breath making more sense he veered back on topic "An apocalypse isn't exactly new ground for ya Slayer, so why the big freak out?"

"I always freak before an apocalypse, you just haven't seen it before."

"Well I was there when you put yourself in a coma."

"Right, either way, this is worse than any of that, probably gonna be the actual end ya know. If we can't figure out something solid in time."

"There's always been a new somebody who said they were gonna end the world, yet here we are, world still standing, cause one slayer is still willing to fight for it."

"I just," She took a breath, then Spike could see the tears start to well in her eyes "I don't think I'm gonna be able to save it this time… And I'm gonna kill an army of powerless girls and my friends in the process if we don't figure out something soon; and, and I don't wanna die again…" a tear skidded down her cheek.

"Hey, now you listen to me. I've been alive a bit longer than you, and dead a lot longer than that. I've seen things, you couldn't imagine; and done things I'd prefer you didn't. I don't exactly have a reputation for being a thinker. I follow my blood, which doesn't exactly rush in the direction of my brain. So I make a lotta mistakes, lotta wrong bloody calls. 100 plus years, and there's only one thing I've ever been sure of… You!" he reached out his hand to touch her face, she laid her head against his hand and closed her eyes "Hey look at me," She gazed back at him, as he asked "I'm not asking you for anything. When I say I love you, it's not because I want you, or I cause can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength, I've seen the best and the worst of you, and I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman, you're the one Buffy!"

"I don't wanna be the one anymore."

"I don't wanna me this good looking and athletic, we all have crosses to bear" Buffy gave a small smile in return, then her eyes started to droop and her brain reminded her of just how tired she was. She wiped the tears from her face as a yawn escaped her lips

"You looked knackered, I'll let you get some rest pet," he motioned to stand, but a hand on his forearm stopped him, he looked back at Buffy, confused.

"Spike…You can stay if you want."

"That what you want pet?" trying to make her say it.

"Yes," she admitted "Will you stay here with me for a while, just hold me?"

"Of course luv." He adjusted on the bed, under the covers then opened his arm for her to slide close and rest against his chest "Anything for you." He said softly then kissed her forehead, and she almost instantly drifted to sleep. He couldn't help but smile. _God to be holding her again, but this seems better somehow, that cause of the soul?_ Spike thought to himself, then kissed the top of her head. _Either way, this is bloody amazing._

* * *

The sun was just about set, no doubt they had more leg work to do tonight, but the last thing Spike wanted to do was wake the woman sleeping soundly in his arms. But did he dare risk one of her friends coming to wake her and see. _Bloody hell, if she wakes and gets embarrassed this may never happen again. But if I wake her, maybe she'll just realize how well she slept… how well we fit together… I can dream can't I?_ He took one more long look at the sleeping slayer in his arms, stroked her hair one more time, then kissed her forehead, and spoke toward her ear "It's time to wake up luv." She stirred a little but didn't wake, so he said again, a little louder "Buffy, rise & shine luv."

The girl moaned "Noooo." And turned to bury her face in his chest.

"Yes, luv," he said sweetly "Time ta chat with the gang and make a plan, maybe even go kill things."

"Fiiiine," she grumbled like a child "But you woke me from a very good dream."

"What dream would that be pet?" he asked as he stroked her hair.

"I'm not saying" she said stubbornly.

"Oh c'mon, why not?"

"Cause your just gonna take it and run with it, and not let me forget it."

"Well now you have to tell me, especially since that means I was probably in it." Buffy rolled her eyes then looked at Spike, she knew he was just gonna keep bugging her until she told him, which including bringing it up in front of her friends.

"Fine," she gave in "I was dreaming about that beach house."

"Just the house?" he joked "Or did me and the kids make the cut?"

"Yeah, all of it, just seemed too perfect to be true, ya know?"

"Yeah," he smiled and kissed her forehead, then regretfully scooted away from her and went to stand up. "We best be getting down stairs, luv."

"Yeah, I know, apocalypse, no way to stop it. Can't wait to get back to that problem." She said unenthused, as she stood up herself.

"S'pose Red & the little bit worked it all out while you were sleeping in my arms?"

"Yeah, wouldn't that be nice." With that Buffy walked to the door and opened it, just to find Dawn outside of it ready to knock.

"I was just coming to get ya." She smiled, seeing that Spike was indeed still in the room, glad with her set up this morning. "I think we got some good news for ya, a promising plan of attack."

"Really?!" Buffy was taken off guard, she really wasn't expecting any progress to have been made, let alone good news. She looked back at Spike remembering what he had said just before she opened the door. She gave him a big smile and started shaking her head back in Dawn's direction then they all stepped out the door and started down the stairs.

* * *

"So you're telling me that if we can actually find that amulet, you can work the sunshine spell?" Buffy asked, more enthused and well rested than she'd been in weeks.

"We think so," Willow replied just as hopeful, smile glued to her face.

"See we got to thinking, why did the amulet dust the Turok-Han? It must have some kind of 'sunlight' properties to be able to dust them like it did." Dawn explained "Then I remembered I didn't really see how Willow did the sunshine spell, it just got bright in a similar way to how Willow and Anya saw in the dimension where ya went down in the hellmouth."

"Yeah, but didn't that trinket reduce me & the slayer to dust in those worlds?" Spike clarified, not too sure using that thing at all would end well.

"Yes, but in those two, the amulet was drawing from you guys, Willow would be using it as a catalyst."

"Okay. So the amulet's a good." Buffy continued "We know where to find it?"

Willow and Dawn's smiles started to fade "I think that lies with finding one of these guardians." Xander supplied "I'm thinking they're gonna know what it is." The scoobies looked around at each other, exchanging looks of 'makes sense'. "I was just thinking, that's probably how they got it in the dimensions where you two get dusted."

"But we haven't found any guardians yet," Anya interjected "Yeah we know they do in fact exist, but no demon claims to have actually seen one, let alone known one to point um out."

"I think I got an idea about that." Buffy smiled.

"What? Or Who?" Xander questioned, the scoobies looking to her with optimism.

"The common thread in a lot of my close calls you came up with," she gestured to Xander, then said what everyone was begging her to "Willy." surprised looks were shared all around.

"But we didn't get diddly from him when we asked." Anya interjected

"Well, he hasn't exactly saved the day every time an apocalypse comes around, but he's provided some very helpful information from time to time. And it wouldn't surprise me if he's steered some demons our way when we needed that, or who knows what else if he really is a guardian." Buffy explained.

"So, who gets to go beat up Willy for info?" Xander inquired kinda hoping he'd get to go.

"Spike and I will go," Buffy announced looking to the vampire for a nod "See if we can find info on the amulet the old fashion way, then play the guardian angle if we gotta."

"Right, off to Willy's then," Spike agreed then started toward the door. "I could go for some decent blood at least." He opened the door, and the slayer and him were off into the night.


	9. Chapter 9: Help Under Their Nose

Chapter 9 – Help Under Their Nose

The demon bar was surprisingly sparse, only a couple demons nursing drinks. _Guess some demons have started to leave town to save their skin from this apocalypse._ Buffy thought as she and Spike marched up to the bar.

"Hey Willy, what kinda blood you got?"

"No human in stock today Spike, I did get ahold of some otter, very tasty I'm told." With a shrug from Spike Willy served him up the drink. "I didn't think I'd be seeing you two around since Anya and the nerd were poking around the last few days."

"Oh what can we say Willy, we missed you." Buffy enlightened "So when'd the joint stop jumpin?"

"When the hellmouth got all rumbly." Willy supplied "The whole 'from beneath you it devours' business, scared a lot of my clientele outta town. So what can I do for ya Slayer?"

"Lookin for an amulet actually, might help us avert this apocalypse and save your fine establishment." Spike answered "Big diamond lookin thing, on a black gold chain, gaudy Liz Taylor type piece. Didn't get a name, but seems ta make vampires go poof when it's awake."

"Ya know, I think I know what rock your talkin bout."

"So, who do we gotta bloody kill to get it?"

"Ya see, thing is last I heard a nasty lawfirm in LA swooped it up from a tome right here in Sunnydale."

"Really?" Buffy smiled, and glanced at Spike "But why a lawfirm?" she asked as she looked back to Willy.

"Ever heard of Wolfram & Hart? Big into the evil clientele, human & demon alike. Big into the more powerful magics too, which is probably why they snatched up the amulet you're lookin for."

"This trinket got a name?"

"Yeah some ancient type name, something like 'leppered solstice, lapedium solis, lapidem saratis' can't remember just what."

"Solis, that sun in latin ain't it?" Spike asked, Buffy seemed shocked by the vampire's random knowledge, but also rather impressed.

"Maybe, I don't know never got too good with those dead languages."

"We can check with Red, but if sunshine is in it's name would give credit to what it does. I think lapis is rock or something, but not too sure on that one."

"Okay Willy, where's the tomb the lawfirm took the amulet from?"

"Not sure about that one. But definitely one of the more ancient one."

"That's helpful," Spike responded sarcastically rolling his eyes.

"Sorry, that's all I got."

"Oh I hope not Willy," Buffy implied "One more bonus question."

"Okay. Shoot." Getting a little nervous he was gonna get beat up if he didn't know the answer.

"How the bleeding hell am I supposed to get the amulet from a big wig law firm that does way more than push papers?" getting a little frustrated as she asked, Spike had to try very hard to suppress a laugh _Did the slayer just say 'bleeding hell'? Maybe she has been hanging around me too much?_ He thought as he laughed in his head.

"I've never dealt with them myself livin here in Sunnydale. But I heard some interesting news about your old buddy Angel."

 _Oh shit_ Spike thought as is inner laughter suddenly stopped _Please tell me we don't have to go through that wanker to save the world._

"What about Angel Willy?" Buffy prodded a bit nervous about how her ex was about to be involved.

"I just heard a certain ensouled vampire just got the keys to the joint."

"Why would Angel be running an evil lawfirm?"

"Ya got me, just telling ya what I heard Slayer."

Content with what they got outta their source, Buffy nodded to Spike, who then finished his drink and laid down some cash. Then Buffy said quite sincerely "Well, thanks Willy, your always watchin out for us." Buffy winked at the bartender then walked out as Spike followed.

 _Shit, please tell me I didn't blow my cover by being too helpful this time?_ Willy thought as he grabbed the bloody cup off the counter. _But with my scary clientele hightailing it outta town, they're gonna need all the help they can get._ He set the cup in a bin and grabbed the cash off the counter. _Naaa, no way, I'm still good._ He smiled at the oddly generous tip from Spike. _They don't even know what a Guardian is…_

* * *

After getting back to main street Spike finally spoke up "Ya wanna swing through the cemeteries before headin back, pet?"

Brain full of trying to figure out ways to avoid drama with her ex she didn't quite hear what the vampire said. Finally realizing Spike was staring right at her she shook herself back to reality, and stared back at her companion. "What? Did you just say something?"

He chucked for a moment "Ya feel like a bit of the rough n' tumble before headin back. Might do ya good to kill somthin."

"Oh, yeah, sure." She supposed as they veered their course to the nearest cemetery.

They walked on for a while in silence, then Spike got a big grin on his face and just had to ask. "Did you really say 'bleedin hell' to Willy?" and actually let a laugh escape that time.

Buffy laughed with him for a bit then finally got herself to say "Yeah, I don't know how that popped out, and I didn't wanna laugh cause I was trying to be serious with Willy."

"Me too pet." They shared a grin as they scanned the cemetery for 'old' tombs

"You're a bad influence Spike."

"I never claimed to be a good one." He supplied with an evil smile.

They walked through cemetery for a bit more, then Buffy had to get something off her chest while they were still alone "Spike, thank you."

Spike tried to process if he heard her right Thank you? "For what Slayer, helpin with Willy?"

"No, for earlier, I didn't get a chance to thank you for helping me through my pre-apocalyptic freak-out."

"Oh, don't worry about that Slayer, just seemed like you needed a little cold comfort from your local celler-dweller."

"Spike do you realize what you did?" He shrugged her off, thinking he hadn't done anything special or out of the ordinary. "You gave me the strength to keep fighting in this fight, I was ready to give up this morning, and look where we are now, we have the best lead we've had in weeks and maybe even a way to finish this. Just that time to step back and hear you say I gonna make it work and just feel safe in your arms, it helped me truly rest. Now I guess I don't know how you felt about that time together but…"

Spike stopped, "Terrified."

Buffy stopped beside him and asked, "Of what?"

"Earlier in your room was... god I'm such a jerk, I can't do this."

"Spike…"

"It was the best experience of my life." He finally spat out, then looked at her seriously "If you poke fun at me you bloody well better steak me cause I couldn't bear it, may not mean that much to you but…"

"I just told you it did."

"Yeah I hear you say it, I've lived for sodden ever Buffy. I've done everything, done things with you I can't spell, but I've never been close. To anyone, least of all you. Till earlier, all I did was hold you watch you sleep. And it was the best day of my life. So yeah I'm terrified."

"You don't have to be."

"Were you there with me?"

"I was"

"What's that mean?"

"I don't know, does it have to mean something?"

"No, not yet I guess." Not wanting to push his luck with that conversation. They started walking again, and after a little bit he tried another approach. "So new question, if you could swap with any of the dimensions we all saw the other day, which one would it be?"

Glad to hear the topic change, she thought for a second then replied "Definitely the one where you actually kill me on Halloween." She stopped her pace and grinned, as she turned her to face the vampire.

"Be serious luv," he said sweetly as he caressed her face.

"I don't know, the ball of sunshine seemed good, I think I saw everyone alive and well." Then she started walking again. "But why the hell were you on the other side?"

"I'm goin' with the 'I was brainwashed' theory." He surmised as he strode beside her again. "Any others contenders goldilocks?"

"You're fishing now, cause you just said pick one."

"Wanna know my choice?"

"I already do, not that hard to figure out," thinking of that gorgeous beach and the 3 kids…

"Right. So why isn't it yours? Thought you've always wanted a normal life?"

"I do, but how do I know if all my friends were still alive in that one? We just saw us."

"I'm sure your pals were fine, if not we can make them fine, and make that dimension our own."

"And how come you weren't a vampire anymore? You were all in the sun and not flamey and last I checked the undead can't have kids."

"I got myself a soul didn't I? Just gotta figure out the super-human bit."

Buffy stopped again and asked plainly. "What are you getting at Spike?"

Spike stopped beside her, then took her hands in his and stared into her eyes. "I want that to be us, I wanna meet those beautiful pups someday." Buffy looked confused, and a little scared by the bold notion. "It's possible, or else we couldn't have seen it. I know it wouldn't work if I were merely human, that's not enough for you. So I gotta find a way to keep my strength, but be able to walk in the sun with you. That'll be when you let me into your world. Am I right?"

"Maybe," she mewed, actually finding herself genuinely touched by his persistence and forethought. "That would take away the lifespan fact, but still let you fight by my side." Spike tried to stop a huge smile from erupting on his face, and instead produced a smug lip curl and a head tilt. Then he brought a hand up to his lips and kissed it; then lowered her hand and kept one in his as they continued their demon-less patrol.

* * *

"Oh bollocks," Spike puffed as he and Buffy turned the corner and headed down Revello Drive.

"What?"

"We're back," he replied as he gestured to her house with his free hand.

"Oh," she looked down to her hand still intertwined with his, she didn't want to release it, but wasn't ready to explain that to her friends, or quite to herself for that matter, just yet. "We could try a few more cemeteries tonight if ya want, see if we find anything else ancient tomby?"

"No," he said begrudgingly "You were right after the last empty cemetery, with no demons makin trouble we best get the info we got outta Willy back to your mates." Then he said the one thing he'd been holding back on bringing up until the very last minute "And apparently we need to give captain forehead a call so he can save the day."

Buffy stopped in her tracks, pulling Spike to a stopped by their adjoined hands nearly throwing him to the ground in the process. Mouth partly gapped open and a 'what the hell?!' look clear on her face. "That's what you call Angel?"

"No, I got lots of names for that ponce."

"Spike?!"

"Oh, com'on Slayer, you know we hate each other, good or evil."

"Yeah, but 'captain forehead'?"

"He's got a large protruding forehead. You think he doesn't have names for me?" that look not leaving her face "Captain peroxide for one" he said as he pointed to his beyond bleached blond hair "And I'm pretty sure your boy Xander uses that one too." The piercing look still present, Spike noticed that she hadn't pulled her hand out of his yet, so he took a different approach, and took a small step toward her with each question. "You really mad at the name luv? Or are ya upset we have to get involved with your ex? Or are ya just upset we have to get back to saving the world and can't keep roaming the night?" with the last question they were practically pressed against one another "hand in hand?" then grasped her free hand with his. He could hear her heart starting to race.

 _I hate how insightful he can be, I can't get away with shit._ "All of the above you cheater."

"And how am I a cheater?"

"Cause I don't know what you're thinking all the time." She smiled "That's where she gets it."

"Where who gets what? Ya lost me there Slayer."

"Dawn, that's how she's been getting so insightful, all the time she spent with you."

"Hm, ya know that does make sense." He said as he returned the smile "So since the little bit is gonna find out about us, I can just go ahead and brag to her right?"

"No." Buffy said firmly.

"Oh, com'on Slayer, I gotta be able to tell someone."

"No you don't." Spike pouted his lip, Buffy tried to avoid looking _Oh why is he so darn cute when he does that…_ "Fine, I'll make you a deal, if we both make it through this apocalypse alive you can tell Dawn."

"Bollocks! If we both make it through this one I'm tellin all the scoobies." He smiled evilly.

"No, cause you have to become a boy-slayer if you want us to have a chance to continue past this apocalypse."

"Sure, just incase this apocalypse wasn't hard enough." He looked into her soft yet strong hazel eyes "Alright luv," then he released his hands and pulled her against him and held tight "When we get to walk in the sun hand in hand, then I get to brag to your mates I earned your love." Buffy smiled at the notion, then returned the embrace.

After a minute or two Buffy broke their embrace and looked up to the house, took a deep breath then looked to Spike "So why are they always my friends?" she broke the silence trying to get more lighthearted before getting back to the gang "You've been around and helping long enough, they're kinda your friends too."

"Cause the only one in the lot of um I'll freely talk to is your sis."

"You talk to Anya." She added as they started toward the house

"Oh yeah, but just cause she's a straight talker. Xander still more or less hates me, and Willow just doesn't talk to me much at all."

"Hm, I guess, but still, part of wanting to be in my life for the long haul is getting along with my friends." She smiled as she stepped up on the porch, thinking she may have figured something out before he did.

"I'll work on it luv." He said simply as he opened the door for her.

The house was loud, rambunctious even, music blaring, girls chatting and laughing. Buffy and Spike entered the house very confused, this was a drastically different atmosphere then where they just were and a lot more party-like than it had been in quite some time. Buffy saw Willow across the living room dancing with her new girlfriend Kennedy, unlikely she would get her attention without causing a scene. Dawn was also with the group of dancing girls. Xander and Andrew were closer, playing cards with a few potentials. And Anya seemed to playing her favorite monetary game, Monopoly, with a few unsuspecting girls. Nobody had really noticed Buffy & Spike came back between the music and the commotion. Buffy looked to Spike, unsure if she should be mad and make a big scene, or maybe just slip quietly out the door and go patrol some more. But Spike as usual could pretty much tell what she was thinking and whispered into her ear. Then he stepped into the chaos and grabbed Xander from the table and headed for the kitchen. Andrew followed hoping not to get left out of anything.

Once all 4 of them were in the kitchen Buffy let her confusion out "What the bleeding hell is going on?" she covered her mouth and gave a shocked glare to Spike, who was trying to hold back a laugh. _Holy crap! I did it again… maybe Xander didn't notice…?_

"Did you just say 'bleeding hell'?" Xander asked dumbfounded.

"No, I said 'freaking hell'."

"No you definentally said 'bleeding'." Andrew affirmed "Otherwise why would Spike be trying not to laugh?"

Buffy smacked the vampire upside the head, and he instantly stopped, and got back to the original question "So mate, what's goin on in the slayers house while she's away trying to save you all?"

"Nothin, just the girls seemed like they could use some stress relief, and with our big breakthrough in the research we thought a party might be a fun idea." Xander explained.

"At least while you were still out doing recon." Andrew added "The research was kind of at a pause until you were able to get more info from Willy the snitch." He looked between the two hopeful "Were you able to weasel some information out of that low life?"

"Stop being so dramatic Andrew," Buffy insisted "Willy isn't a low life, he just caters to them," She glanced at Spike who raised his eyebrow in rebuttal "and to whoever comes in his fine shady establishment."

"You find out something Buff? We need to call off the party and rally the troops?"

"No, you guys are right, a party was probably due, I've been working them pretty hard between the studying and the workouts. And you guys have been hitting the books non-stop for me."

"Ehh, don't mention it, it's what we slayerettes do." Xander replied "So ya got news? Preferably of the good kind?" Buffy nodded with a small grin "Great! Andrew can you go grab Willow, Dawn, & Anya?"

"Sure thing Mr. Xander Sir!" and he bolted into the room. Buffy walked passed Spike who was leaning on the stove, then propped herself up on the counter by the sink to sit. Soon enough Andrew came back with the three ladies, plus Kennedy who was attached to Willows arm. "Your ladies in waiting madam Slayer." Buffy shot him a glare "Sorry, I'll be quiet."

"Thank you." Buffy said calmly "You all threw me off with the party, but Xander explained, we were probably past due for one."

"So is Willy a guardian?" Dawn asked excitedly "Did he tell you anything to help us save the day?"

"Don't know if he's a guardian for sure, but it still seems like it to me, cause he gave us some very helpful info just when we needed it."

"He know where you can find the amulet?" Willow asked

"Yup, LA. Even had most of a name for us. Lappeldenim solstice, or something like that." She looked to Spike for reassurance on her horrible Latin pronunciation.

"Lapedium Solis luv. Think it means rock of the sun?"

"Close, Stone of the Sun actually," Willow clarified "Which does give some credit as to what we think it can do."

"Great, so where in the big city do we have to go? Or can we call up Mr. Broody to get it for us and fed-ex it?" Xander asked, Spike couldn't help but chuckle at the nickname.

"What is it with you guys and bad nicknames for Angel?" Buffy requested exasperated.

"I don't know, he just makes it so easy, like Spike here." Xander implied, Spike stopped laughing glared at the boy for a moment then went to answer his question.

"Well it seem that some big bad evil lawfirm swooped up our amulet a few weeks ago and has it in their vaults or something."

"What does a lawfirm need with a magical amulet?" Willow questioned.

"Don't know exactly, but they do more than law stuff I guess, big into magics and such." Buffy supplied.

"This lawfirm wouldn't be Wolfram & Hart by chance would it?" Anya interjected.

"Yup that's the one." Spike confirmed.

"I get it, they've been around since the dawn of time in one form or another. They're pretty much Evil Incorporated. You want something done, and you got the money to pay them, they'll get it done, by any means necessary."

"What else Anya?" Buffy prodded "Why would they need an amulet?"

"It could be as simple as a client needed it, or they just wanted it. They like to keep powerful things at their fingertips and out of anyone else's hands who would use it against them."

"Have you heard anything about this place lately? Like in the last few weeks?" Buffy asked.

"Nope."

"Cause here's the kicker of this whole story. According to Willy, the firm seems to be under new management, Angel's in charge now." As expected confused looks of 'what', 'how', & 'why' were clear on everyone's face.

Then Willow was bold enough to ask "Is he evil again?" Buffy hadn't thought about that, but Willy never said he was evil…

"No I don't think so Wil, I don't know how or why, but Willy was sure he heard right."

"He ain't evil," Spike added noticing Buffy's self-doubt. "Angelus would never have the patience to take a bloody job, even as the boss. The ponce would think that was beneath him." Buffy couldn't even shoot him a glare for the barb, what he said did make sense, the Angelus she knew always did his own evil twisted thing.

"So, basically the plan is to call up Angel, say pretty please and he should be able to get us the amulet?" Dawn clarified.

"To put it bluntly," Buffy agreed "Yeah. Questions?" Nobody could come up with one.

"So can I pull my girl back to the party?" Kennedy blurted.

"I don't know hun, I may have to get back into research mode."

"Na, you all enjoy the party, you've all earned some unwind time. I'll give Angel a call and see what he can do."

"Alrighty then. Thanks Buff." Xander said as he hopped up and headed for the living room.

* * *

"Hm, the number's been disconnected or something." Buffy looked back and forth from the receiver to the number scribbled on her notepad "I doubt I dialed it wrong 3 times."

"Wanna try the law firm?" Spike asked, he had Dawn look up the number before returning to the party.

"Fine." She grabbed the paper from Spike and dialed it in. A recording of a young woman answered.

"Hello you have reached Wolfram & Hart attorneys at law. If you know your parties extension please dial it now? Para continuar en español, marque uno." Buffy annoyance was becoming clear on her face "To speak with an attorney press 2. To speak with a consultant press 3. To contact records press 4. To contact the Research & Development department press 5. To contact magical archives press 6. To speak with an administrative associate press 7. To schedule a sacrifice press 8. To hear the list again press 9."

"What the hell, I don't know?" she pressed 9 then placed the phone on speakerphone so Spike could help, the list replayed.

"7 would be my best guess, maybe someone there could at least send ya to the right secretary." He reasoned.

Buffy shrugged and pressed the number "Thank you, please hold as we connect you to our next available associate." Then the perfectly awful hold music echoed through the phone, she placed it on the island while they waited.

"Super." They waited for a few minutes, still nobody picked up "You suppose they're closed?" Buffy asked looking at the clock, just past 9:00.

"Maybe technically, but I don't think this firm sleeps." They waited through the music a few minutes more "So, what's the plan after this then pet? If Angel is there and can get us the trinket we gonna head down to get it?"

"Why would we both go? I can run down and get it and be back a little after dawn I'm sure."

"Cause I don't trust you alone with your ex. The last time he came to town you two got with the smoochies."

"What? When?" Buffy thought back, after her mother had died, he came after the funeral, and she was feeling pretty needy… "Ugh! Spike! There were circumstances, and he left and we didn't let anything happen anyway." She thought back on it again, _I don't remember telling anyone about that part of Angel's visit._ "Wait, how do you know that happened anyway?"

"I went to visit your mums grave after dark, saw you two all snuggly."

"Oh." She said kind of bashfully.

"So either I run n' fetch it and we see if Angel and I can play nice, or we both go slayer. Not too sure we could make it back before light though, so may have to lay about in LA for a day."

"You're pretty set those are our only options?"

"Yup. I don't want him comin' in here and refusing to leave and bullock somethin' up in the process. So if we gotta get the ponce involved, I wanna know what he's doing, and making sure it ain't you."

"Spike?!" baffled he'd come right out and say it, she took a moment to consider her next words, seeing as now he was actually getting upset. "Are you not wanting to add Angelus to our list of problems? Or are you just scared you'd lose what we have?"

"What do you think pet?" he asked sarcastically "You become sixteen every time you bloody see him." Buffy was a little hurt by the statement, but he wasn't entirely wrong. Angel was her first love, he'll always have the power to render her helpless. Then the music stopped and a real voice came to the line.

"Hello Wolfram & Hart administration assistance, thanks for holding. How can I help you?"

Buffy grabbed the phone "Um, yes I was looking to speak with Angel."

"I cannot guarantee our CEO will be available to talk with just anyone ma'am, but if you'd like I can patch you through to his secretary."

"I would appreciate that."

"Hold one moment please." Then the music started again.

"That wasn't condescending at all." Buffy blurted "Thought she was gonna hang up on me for asking something so stupid." The pair chuckled then they heard yet another female voice through the phone.

"Hello, Wolfram & Hart, Angel's office." Spike got a weird look on his face, Buffy went to take it off speakerphone but he stopped her wanting to hear.

"Hi, I was hoping to speak with Angel directly."

"He is a bit busy at the moment. I could take your name and number and see if he'll return your call. May I ask who's calling?" Spike snapped his fingers then grabbed the phone.

"Harm is that you?" he asked

"Who is this now? Cause I thought I was just speaking to a lady."

"Bloody hell, Harm it's Spike."

"Blondy Bear? Holy cow? Really? Wait why are you calling for Angel? And who was on the phone before?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm helpin the Slayer out, now would you put us through to Angel?" he asked then added "Oh but just say it's Buffy, if you say it's me he'll just hang up."

"Okay sure, hold on just a sec." the hold music returned on the line for a brief moment before Angel's voice rang through and Spike handed the phone back to Buffy.

"Hello, Buffy?"

"Hey Angel, when did you become CEO of Evil Incorporated? And why is Harmony your secretary?"

"How? How did you know I was here? I've only been here a couple of weeks and haven't called any of you since…" his voice trailed.

"News travels fast in the demon world. Thanks for the new number by the way, glad I didn't need to get a hold of you for help with an apocalypse. Oh wait I do." Spike muffled a laugh, not wanting to add is presence to the conversation.

"Sorry Buffy, I just wasn't sure you'd approve, not even sure if I do yet."

"Not sure I do, but it seems you can help with our current apocalypse."

"Yeah you're going up against the FIRST, same evil that tried to get me to kill myself a few years back."

"And you know this how?"

"Part of the perks of being CEO of Evil Incorporated. So how can I help?"

"Seems your enterprise snatched up an amulet from Sunnydale that we could really use, called the Lapedium Solis, Stone of the Sun. We're pretty sure it's gonna help us with our ubervamp problem."

"I can get Westley right on it, he's running the magic & relics department."

"Really…? I'm sorry this is just too weird."

"Yeah, I get that. So you gonna come down to get it or should I bring it up to Sunnydale?"

"I'll come down, maybe crash the night and see if you can dig up anything else helpful for us?"

"Sure thing, let me double check we got it and give you a call right back. You at home?"

"Yup, Thanks Angel." Then she hung up the line.

"I hope you said 'I'll come down' so he wouldn't ask about 'we'll come down'?"

"Pretty much. We'll let him deal when he sees ya. You mind filling the gang in? I'm gonna go pack a bag while I wait for the call back." She strode past him toward the stairs.

"Sure thing pet." He was glad she caved so easy to let him come, but wasn't looking forward to having her go all gaga over Angel in front of him. And he definitely wasn't going to expect Buffy to come out about their maybe relationship in front of his grand-sire. _Besides, if we really do have friends in this evil firm, maybe they'd have the resources to help make me a real boy…_


	10. Chapter 10: City of Angel

Chapter 10 – City of Angel

"A bit busier than Sunnydale." Buffy shouted over the motorcycle as they neared the law firm building. "Especially for 1:30 in the morning." She added as they rounded the building and found the underground parking garage, 4 doors on the bottom of a ramp, they pulled up to the far right door and stopped by a keypad, Buffy punched in the code Angel gave them and the door opened. They drove into a garage with many vintage cars that all looked new. Spike parked the bike by the elevator at the far end of the garage, and shut it off.

"Bloody ponce has a few company cars, probably magically sun proof and everything."

"Spike, can you at least try to be nice?"

"For you pet?" he started then gave her a grin "I'll try, but no promises if he starts anything."

"Of course, why should I expect that?" she commented sarcastically as they reached the elevator and pressed the button. "So you ready for this weirdness?"

"Nope, Angel will probably be in a suit and everything." He joked.

"Ehh, didn't think of that." She laughed with him then the elevator dinged it's arrival. Spike motioned Buffy through first then followed her in. Buffy rifled a piece of scratch paper out of her pocket, floor 42 she checked then pressed the number on the wall.

"I love you Slayer," Spike said sincerely, Buffy gave him a slightly confused look, not what he said, she'd heard it plenty before, but _why now?_ Spike clearly knew what she was thinking, "Just wanted to keep that fresh for ya." She smiled up at him and gave him a soft peck on his cheek just before the elevator dinged for their floor.

The doors opened to a large office, with what seemed to be a conference room at the far end. The pair stepped out of the elevator and started to look around the room, a large desk with weapons and other antiques behind it was at the end of the room they were at. Then there was a kind of sitting area in the middle, a couple couches and chairs, then a very large table in a partially cut off room behind. Strange thing was, there was no Angel in Angel's office, no nobody to greet them.

"Wonder where he's at, he knew I'd be here about now." Buffy pondered.

"So we gonna wait for him or go poking around?" hoping she'd choose the latter option.

"We should probably stay put Spike. Pretty big place to get lost in."

"Fine," he grumbled, then looked to Angel's desk and got a fun idea. He strode over and plopped right in his chair. "Ooo, very nice accommodations for the king of an evil empire."

"Spike stop it, you said you wouldn't start anything."

"He ain't here yet, can't start trouble until the other party gets here." He clarified as he started to spin the chair like a little kid.

Buffy tried not to laugh at him "And how old are we William?"

At that he stopped the chair, facing the wall behind the desk. But before he could retort, the main doors opened to the office. Buffy turned to face who entered, Spike didn't move. Angel strode into his office with a guy and girl in tow. They were in the middle of a conversation and headed for the meeting room when Angel stopped, and turned around to see Buffy standing by his desk.

"Buffy?!" almost surprised to see her.

"Hey Angel." She tried to say modestly as a smile covered her face… and possibly started to blush... _dang he looks good in a suite…_

Angel looked over at a clock then reasoned to himself that it was about that time. He walked over to her giving her a hug "Sorry I wasn't here earlier, got caught up with something, lost track of time, you been waiting long?"

"Na, just a few minutes actually. Nice office."

"Thanks." Then Angel's two companions crept up behind him obviously anxious to meet her. "Oh Sorry, um Buffy this is," Angel went to motion to the brunette woman but she pushed past him to shake hand with the famous Buffy.

"Hi I'm Fred, been workin' with Angel for a while now, and now I'm the head of the Science department here." She had a charming Texas accent and was very enthusiastic, shaking Buffy's hand with just as much energy. "It's just so nice to meet you, I mean we've all heard stories, but to meet you in the real live flesh and everything, gosh, it's just wow! I mean you're the Slayer, well one of two I guess. Just how strong are ya? Angel says you're a bit stronger than your average vampire, but I just can't picture a small-ish woman like you or me being so strong. The physics of it all just boggles my brain…" before she could babble anymore the guy who came in with them grabbed her shoulder.

"Fred, I think you may wear out the slayer's arm." She looked down and immediately released Buffy's hand and apologized. The man looked at Buffy and smiled "Well you haven't changed much."

Buffy was very confused, _have I met this British dude before?_ Searching his face for clues. Clearly her confusion was obvious enough as Angel provided the answer for her. "Buffy, this is Westley." She took a double take but then she started to see it under all the facial hair.

"Holy Crap! Well you've changed quite a bit." She smiled, hoping that didn't sound too mean "So you run all things magic here? You got my amulet handy?"

"Quite right, I'll go fetch it. Be right back." He left the office, closing the door behind him.

"Good drive?" Angel asked sitting against the edge of his desk, Buffy joined next to him, propping herself up on the massive desk.

"Yeah, ears are still ringing a little from the motorcycle though." _Shit… I had to announce that, Spike was being so good at hiding and not causing trouble yet._ Buffy could just see Spike holding in his laughter at her.

"Since when do you drive a motorcycle?" Angel asked confused then saw his chair turn out of the corner of his eye, then turned to face it.

"Hey Grandpa! So you bloody evil now or did you just kill the boss and take over?"

"What the hell is he doing here? And in my chair?" Angel asked Buffy not moving his eyes from Spike.

"He's been helping me for a while now, offered to give me a ride to L.A."

"Really?"

"Yup, I'm a goody good guy now too!" Spike mocked, propping his feet up on the desk.

"Come on, feet off my desk, and get out of my chair!" Angel rounded the desk, Spike had no intention of moving, then he picked Spike up by his coat. "Why the hell are you helping?"

"Told ya, I'm a white hat now."

"You get another chip?"

"Nope, don't even have that bloody thing anymore." He gave an evil grin.

"What?!" Angel glared at Buffy confused as he gripped tighter to the vampire's coat.

"It was a whole thing, it was killing him so we got it taken out. Besides he's got a s…"

"Don't tell this ponce!"

Angel was confused, then stared Spike down and put the pieces together. "Damit, when did you get a soul?" he asked then threw Spike back a few feet beside his chair.

"So you're like Angel then, with the curse and all?" Fred felt compelled to ask.

"No!" Spike replied, almost offended "I'm not bloody cursed, I wanted my soul back so I went and got it. Simple as that."

"How?" Angel asked brow getting furrowed and arms crossed, clearly upset he was being copied.

"None of your business."

"So you won't lose it with a 'moment of perfect happiness'?" Fred clarified.

"Nope, I can shag all I want and I still get to keep it." Shooting a triumphant grin to Angel.

"Oh," Fred responded almost sorry she asked.

"Sorry about Spike," Buffy apologized to Fred "He just doesn't know when to shut up." Then glared back at Spike.

"He never has," Angel added "I'm surprised that hasn't got him killed yet." Buffy and him shared a laugh at the comment.

Then to Spike's relief Westley came back in the room, amulet in hand. _Now if we hurry we could get back to Sunnydale before sunrise… No, I gotta see if I can make the dimension come true, gotta tough it out here with the ponce so I can end up with Buffy._ "Hey look it's our shiny trinket."

"Well yes, I mean this is what you were looking for right?"

"Seems like," Buffy responded, accepting the amulet from Westley "You dig up any more info on it besides the name?"

"Why yes, quite a bit actually." Westley handed over a file as well "Well the translation on it boils down to giving cleansing power to the champion that wears it. You said you were hoping to use this as a magical conduit for sunlight?"

"Yeah. Preferably without Spike or me needing to wear it. Since it seems to roast the wearer into a pile of ash."

"Where did you find that?"

"Didn't find it, we opened some dimensional windows and saw it play out that way."

"You've been messing with dimensions?" Angel asked concerned.

"Not going in, just looked around a few to see what the FIRST's plan might entail. Why Spike and I were so important to it that it hasn't actually killed us yet." Buffy clarified. The room was quiet with thought then Fred broke the silence.

"Sounds neat. Can we call it a night?" She asked Angel "You guys are staying the night aren't you?"

"Yeah." Buffy replied.

"Great, then we can go over everything in the morning." Westley concurred.

"Sleep sounds awesome." Buffy agreed then faced Angel "Got a couch or two we can crash on?"

Unsure about the 'a couch' & 'we' in that statement he replied "I have a guest suite, 2 rooms, full kitchen, bathroom, the works."

"Besides your own penthouse? Very nice to be the king of evil." Spike sassed.

* * *

Buffy exited the bathroom, hair up in a towel and some pajama shorts and tank top donned. She walked over to join Spike who was sitting up on the bed in the larger room of the suite. The slayer snuggled up against the vampire. "I don't think Angel liked you sitting at his desk, or you know being here."

"Yeah, knew that was comin'. Why'd ya have to tell him I got a soul? Now the sod just thinks I'm copying him."

"You're the one who said you got the chip out. Besides he was just gonna keep asking why you were helping."

"Maybe," he replied as he leaned in to kiss her forehead "Think I shouldn't've come?"

"No, I definitely felt 'giddy Buffy' return when he came in, and kinda forgot you were there until I blew your cover with the motorcycle…"

"Well that's reassuring."

"Sorry, but it does prove your point for tagging along."

"Yeah?" he remarked, both happy she wanted him here & that he was right "Thanks luv." And gave the girl a squeeze and pecked her on the cheek "I love you Buffy."

 _Well there was the key words to make me uneasy… I could just go sleep in the other room…_

"Sorry pet, I know ya don't like it when I say it, but I just can't help it sometimes"

"That's still not fair." She turned to see a confused look on his face. "Your mind reading trick." His confusion quickly turned to his familiar smug grin, then she surrendered a coy smile "Well we should get some sleep so we don't konk out during the research party tomorrow." She started to take her hair out of it's towel then looked back to Spike curious "You gonna mind wet hair?"

"Naaa," he replied and pulled her in close again "Cold and wet doesn't bother me."

"Okay," Buffy snuggled up against her kind of boyfriend "Goodnight Spike."

"Night luv." Ha gave her one last kiss on top her head then settled to try to sleep himself.

* * *

Buffy stirred at the sound of three knocks at the door to the suite. But the last thing she wanted to do was move from her cozy spot in Spike's arms. Maybe I was just hearing things and it's not time to get up yet. To her regret she heard the knocks again followed by a familiar voice. "Hello? You up Buffy?" Spike was still out, Buffy looked over to him, kissed his forehead. Then reluctantly got up out of bed and headed for the door.

"Morning Angel." Buffy welcomed, as she opened the door for him.

"Good morning. You sleep well?"

"Yeah," she went to scratch her head and realized she had some bad bed head going on "Oh crap, is there a cat on my head?"

"Just a little one," he chuckled.

"Give me a minute." She fled to the bathroom to straighten out her hair.

Angel poked his head around the suite, one bedroom door was shut, the other had a messed up bed, but no Spike. He breathed a sigh of relief. _Good, they didn't sleep together. That would be unfathomable, even if he's got a soul now._ Then he saw Buffy re-enter the room. "You ready to learn how to save the world?"

"Sure thing, I'll change then come on down. Think I'll just let Spike sleep for now."

"Less face-time with captain peroxide is fine with me." Buffy rolled her eyes at the vampire "We're down in the conference room in my office when you're ready."

"Sounds good, be down in 10."

* * *

"Morning all!" Buffy announced as she entered the conference room. The group greeted her in return, she saw Angel, Fred, Westley, and a couple more faces she did not recognize sitting around the table. Then she noticed the muffins in the middle of the table and wanted to dig in.

"I like the blueberry best," Fred offered "They got those nummy crumbly bits on um."

"Sounds good," Buffy grabbed a blueberry muffin and took a seat at the table "Thanks, Fred? Right?"

"Yeah, short for Winifred, but Fred's always been my nickname so I don't even bother with the real one anymore."

"Fair enough," mouth half full of muffin. "So anything new about our sun happy amulet?" She asked Angel as she set the piece on the table.

"Well, you guys found out a lot about it just in finding it's name and that it was in Sunnydale, some higher powers took great pains in keeping it a secret this long. How did you even come across it?"

"Combo of the dimension peeping and asking around."

"Dimension peeping?" asked one of the men at the table Buffy didn't recognize "What exactly were you peeping toms looking for?"

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

The black man in a suite replied "Charles Gunn, you can just call me Gunn, used to be some extra muscle to the team, but now I'm loaded up with lawyer knowledge so I'm heading up the legal department for Angel."

"Ah, nice to meet ya." Buffy smiled "And while we're at it, who's the green guy?"

"I'm Lorne, yes I'm a demon, but don't go slayin me sweetheart, I haven't done an evil thing in my life."

"Working here doesn't count?" She could tell she made the room uneasy with that comment "Sorry. That came out kinda rough… So Lorne, what kind of non-evil demon are ya?"

"I'm an empath demon, I can read people's aura's, more so when they sing. I use my ability to help people find their path."

"Really?"

"Oh sure, we've sang for Lorne lots of times to help save the day." Fred enthused "Especially Angel."

Buffy couldn't help but burst out laughing "Are you serious?" Everybody couldn't help laugh a little having heard Angel sing multiple times, then Buffy caught Angel's scowling face and forced herself to stop. "So what tomb did Wolfram & Hart snatch this thing from?"

"Um, yeah, don't have a name on the tomb, but got this gps location and an ariel photo for ya, you could go recon it when you get back." Angel explained happy for the change in conversation.

Buffy looked over the map "Is this Westview Cemetery? Or maybe St. Mary's? Not sure, it looks different from above."

"It's been a while since I frequented Sunnydale, not sure which one it is myself." Angel replied.

"Eh, no big, we can check out the gps coordinates."

"If I may," Westley jumped in "You said you were intending to use the Lapedium Solis as part of a spell, not through a champion like how the text suggests."

"Yeah, we saw how it turned out when a champion used it. They ended up a pile of ash, looking to avoid that outcome."

"Through your dimensional peeping?" Gunn asked.

"Yeah."

"Would you mind explaining just how you managed that?" Westley inquired.

Buffy went on to explain the whole spell best she could not going too in-depth on the less relevant dimensions and definitely not mentioning the more erotic dimensions that would surly upset Angel. People would ask questions as she went, making the explanations get even longer. Angel's crew would sprinkle in the new details as they talked, nothing too helpful far as Buffy could tell, but maybe Willow and her watcher Jr. of a sister would see something useful in their notes. During the discussion Harmony kept coming in and out of the conference room, almost like she was hoping to see when Spike joined. _Why do I keep paying attention to when she comes in? Am I getting jealous of Harmony?_ Buffy looked at the clock, _it was almost 12, Spike should be getting up soon…_ Fred pulled Buffy back to the conversation at hand. "Sorry Fred, zoned out for a sec. What was that?"

"Just seems like were all up to date on what we know, anything specific you want us to look into before ya gotta leave?"

"Well it would reassure Willow to know the make-up of this Lapedidoum Solstice."

"Lapedium Solis luv." Spike corrected as he announced his presence and strode into the conference room. All eyes looked to him, Buffy was glad he was finally there, Angel could have gone longer without him, and the rest were just surprised to see him. Everyone was aware of who he was and that he was there but most were not aware of his blinding Billy Idol hair-do. "Why is latin so tricky for you pet?" he asked as he sat in an open chair to the left of Buffy.

"Because it's a dead language, and I'm not dead like you." Spike smiled at the jab, while Buffy and Fred giggled a little at her comment. Then Buffy remembered where they were and who was around. "Anyway, you've just missed the boring re-explaining and clarification stuff."

"Glad you didn't wake me for that excitement."

"You ain't big on planning?" Fred asked.

"Spike? Plan?" Angel mocked "That'll be the day."

"Oi, I can when I want to…" Spike defended himself. "Just don't like to." Fred conducted introductions for everyone in her enthusiastic way, including the part where Spike was sired by Drusilla, then got a chip, and is now chip-less but has a soul and that's why a vampire is helping a slayer, again. "So now that you all know my life story, why is a bunch of goodie good guys running evil inc.?"

Angel took the question, "We had a run in with a higher power this summer, and didn't really like what it was trying to do, or how, so we took her out. Wolfram & Hart saw it as ending world peace, so they gave us the keys to the place."

"We believe this is also a means to corrupt and divide us as well." Westley added.

"Sounds like fun." Spike commented with an evil grin.

"No," Buffy scolded. "Spike you have a soul now, no more evil ploys."

"I'm not doing anything evil, I'm just admiring someone else's handiwork that's gonna make this ponce miserable." Buffy just rolled her eyes in response.

"So why exactly is it that you two hate each other? I thought you two used to raid Europe together? Isn't that fun bonding stuff for vampires?" Gunn inquired.

"Yeah, know what else is fun vampire stuff Charlie-boy? Constantly snogging my bloody girl." Spike glared to Angel. "Even in front of me on occasion, especially when Darla flaked out on you."

"Oh, get over it Spike I was evil. When did I ever do something malicious to you when I had a soul?"

"I seem to remember a certain U-boat incident where you made me swim to shore before the sun came up." Spike jabbed "Yeah, I figured that one out, you had a soul then, that's really why you wouldn't bloody let us eat the crew."

"You're lucky I didn't just dust you like I did the other two annoying vampires on that boat."

"You couldn't if you tried Nancy." Spike stood up as to challenge Angel.

Angel stood in response "I've got 120 years on you boy, come at me!"

The pair started to approach each other until Buffy stood up between them, glaring at Angel, and pressing a hand against Spike's chest. "Enough." She said firm but calmly, then she looked to Spike "You promised you wouldn't start anything."

"I said I'd try not to, but this wanker is asking for it." Before he could say another word in defense, Buffy pushed against him causing him to fall back into his chair. Spike crossed his arms like a stubborn child being put on time out.

Then Buffy looked back to Angel, "And you should know better…" Angel sat down himself before Buffy made him. "Now, can we have a civil conversation about Sunnydale's current apocalypse, without you two going at it? Or am I going to have to take out some of my frustration on both of you?" Both the vampires kept their heads down and sat quietly. To which Buffy then sat down herself.

"Wow, that's just amazing." Fred enamored "Do all Slayers have that kind of control over vampires?"

Buffy wasn't sure how to answer the question. Then Gunn jumped in "I think these two are a special case there Fred." Then he flicked his wrist in the air and made a whip crack sound effect.

"Oi!"

"Hey!"

Spike and Angel may have been upset by the comment, but the rest of the table was laughing, even Buffy. The rare sound made Harmony re-enter the room, and confirmed Buffy's suspicion as she sauntered over to Spike as the laughter faded.

"So, Spikey, how've you been?"

He was a little taken back by the gesture as he spun in his chair to face his ex. "Peachy. You?"

"Oh I'm doing fine, likin' the new job, feel like I've really found my own place in the world."

"Good for you Harm…" He replied plainly.

"Harmony." Angel asserted to get her attention, she looked to her boss. "There a reason you popped in?"

"Well you were laughing… a lot. Just saying that's a weird sound for this office." Angel glared in response. "And it is about lunch time? You want me to order something or y'all doing cafeteria today?"

"We'll finish up here then just head down to the cafeteria today Harmony." She nodded in response then took one more ogling glance at Spike before leaving the room.


	11. Chapter 11: Working the Problem

Chapter 11 – Working the Problems

The conference room started to clear out about an hour later when the group broke for lunch. Spike followed Fred and Westley down the hall to where they promised some blood for the vampire. Angel and Gunn had a few cases to discuss so Buffy and Lorne were the last to leave the conference room.

"So that Spike is quite the character." Lorne had to blurt.

"That's one of the nicer ways to put it." Buffy laughed.

"Well, he's sure got a lot more heart than most sweetheart."

"Most vampires you mean?"

"No, most men, or anyone for that matter."

"He never sang, how can you tell that?"

"Most of my power lies in the song, but I'm good at reading people. He could barely take is eyes off you crumb cake." Buffy started to blush "Oh crud… Has he not told you how he feels? Did I just spoil it?"

"No, no Lorne, he's told me he loves me, multiple times. My sister actually figured it out before I ever noticed though."

"So where's the hold-up sweetie? You're over our Angel-cakes right?"

Buffy chuckled a little at the nickname then explained "Yeah I'm over Angel, but the big logical reason and pain of why we broke up is still relevant with Spike. Slayer's short brutal life doesn't exactly match an immortal vampire."

Lorne stopped them in the hall before they got too close to the lunch room. "You're always gonna find reasons it don't work when you get your brain involved sweet pea. That's why we gotta listen to our heart when it comes to love." Buffy was reserved to confess to Lorne the many more reasons why she hadn't let herself indulge that whim with Spike… "You got a favorite song hun?"

"What?"

"If you sing a few lines for me I can help you sort all this out, for better or worse."

"Oh, um, I don't know, like what?"

"That's up to you, part of what helps me read you."

She thought for a moment and looked up and down the hallway, everyone who was in the hall had already gone into the lunch room or elsewhere. She took a big gulp then quietly started, "I touch the fire and it freezes me, I look into it and it's black. Why can't I feel? My skin should crack and peel. I want the fire back." She pause for a moment and looked to Lorne who gestured her to continue "Now through the smoke she calls to me, to make my way across the flame. To save the day, or maybe melt away, I guess it's all the same. So I will walk through the fire, cause where else can I turn? I will walk through the fire, and let it burn."

"You write that yourself?"

"Um, no not really," She stammered, "You see we had an encounter with this musically inclined demon, Sweets, and we all started singing and dancing what we were feeling for a couple days. That was one of the songs I sang."

"Hmm, you were trying to reconnect to the world and not doing so hot?"

"More or less, I died and my friends brought me back and it took me a while to re-join the living, and that's kind of how Spike and I happened."

"Yeah, I sensed that you two had some history."

"So what am I supposed to do Lorne?" Buffy asked remembering why she sang in the first place. "Is Spike good for me or just gonna hurt me?"

"I can't see all that cream puff. But I can tell you, you care for him, a lot more than you're letting yourself. And you and him are gonna be a lot happier once you give in to that passion."

"But for how long, when does it all fall apart?"

"I didn't see an end, or anybody else in your world for that matter. I just saw a blissfully happy couple, you two complete each other, better than most I might add about that clichéd line."

"You're not as helpful as I was hoping." Buffy grumbled as she continued their walk to the lunch room

"You were hoping for more ammo to convince him it won't work?" he asked knowing the answer.

"Yup, it would make my life less confusing."

"Ehh, a confusing life is all there is hun bun." Lorne concluded as he opened the door for her.

Spike popped his head up when Buffy walked in. _Good, was wondering when you'd show pet. Was startin to worry you were alone with your ex…_ After reassuring himself he jumped back into his conversation with Fred & Westley. "So you're saying it's not possible?"

"Well yes," Westley answered.

"No," Fred rebuked "Not not possible, just never been done before. We haven't exactly looked into it."

"You're telling me your boss hasn't bloody asked you about this before?"

"No, he's pretty accepting about his vampire champion status, especially after Buffy died and he realized he was, ya know, over her. But what you're asking may be workable, I mean like you said you managed to get your soul back on your own why not just become a superhuman while you're at it." Fred gigged at the cheery-ness of her comment, while Wes still sat unsure about the whole idea. "And we have a ton of science and magical resources here."

"I knew I liked you Fred." Spike smiled, then he saw Buffy and Lorne start toward their table. "Listen, let's just keep this between us until there's something more solid ok?"

"I'm all done actually, and I've got a theory I wanna look into," Fred got up to leave "Come on down to the lab when you get a chance Spike." Fred waved at Buffy and Lorne on her way out, then the pair took her place at the table.

"What's her furry hurry?" Lorne asked Wes.

"She just got a new theory to work out, brain is all a buzz with thoughts on how to work the problem."

"Ah, that's our Fred-ikins."

* * *

Buffy was getting anxious after lunch and needed to work out some stress, Angel offered to spar with her in the training room, claiming it had been a while since he had a good fight. Spike wanted to go with to keep an eye on her, but if Fred had made any headway on making their dream dimension come true he had to know.

"I don't know why she got your hopes up," Westley commented as they entered the elevator.

"You really think it can't be done?" Spike asked, with a little worry in his voice.

"If it could, I'd imagine it'd be done by now." The elevator dinged open and Westley led them down the hall to Fred's lab.

"Oh perfect!" Fred exclaimed as she saw the pair enter "Spike! Buffy said this morning that the first slayer was made from the essence of a demon right?"

"Um, yeah that's what the shadow men showed her. They were prepared to give her a boost even."

"Westley do we have any account of those rituals?"

"We should, what are you getting at Fred?"

"What if we were to extract Spike's demon, making him human, then re-enfuse it as the shadow men did, we could essentially making him a slayer."

Westley was dumb founded thinking through it "Perhaps if we use the slayers blood as a catalyst for the spell, then we just might…" he trailed off in thought "I'll be right back I need to grab a few source books." With that he was off.

"You really think this could work luv?"

"I do." She said with a pretty wicked smile, for her "The thing is I don't know if we can get this together today. You may have to come back in a little while or we would need to come to you if we need to incorporate slayer's blood."

"Yeah, what was Wes on about with that? If it's gonna kill the slayer I'm not bloody doing this." Spike was getting worried. _My only bloody chance better not involve the slayer's death, that'd defeat the sodding purpose of becoming mortal._

"Oh I doubt it'd need that much, It's just every spell needs a catalyst…"

"Yeah, pet know all about bloody catalysts."

"Okay, I just was thinking if we use a slayer's blood, or some other mystical object, than it's more likely you'll end up a slayer, and not a super-demon thing, or something…"

"Right then." Still not worry free.

"Don't worry Spike, I think Westley and I can work this. Wes is real great with all the magic and book stuff." Spike could swear he saw the girl blush at her last comment.

* * *

"Ya know, if I needed to breath, pretty sure I'd be passed out by now." Angel complemented as he sat down for a break from the sparing, Buffy joined him on the bench after grabbing her water.

"Thanks, but I think it may be more so that you're outta shape than I've gotten that much better."

"Na, probably both. You said Gile's has been away, so you just been training yourself?"

"Well I've been training all the potential slayers," she racked her brain for what else was different "And I've been sparring with Spike too since he's been helping, and more so when he got all soulful."

"That'd be the difference." Angel said bluntly "Spike is a good fighter, relentless, treats every fight like his last, pretty much why he isn't dead yet."

"I think that was almost a complement Angel, you feeling alright?"

"Well he may be a pain, but I can't say I'm against the idea that he's made you a stronger fighter."

"Oh." She acknowledged, then confessed "It's just, honestly, I think he's the reason I'm still here. Because he's helped me and fought by my side the last few years."

Angel looked worried "It's been that bad?" he asked "Maybe I never should have left."

"No, it was right for you to leave, I'm sure you've saved a ton of people here who'd be dead otherwise."

"Yeah, everyone working for me for one." Angel thought about it for a moment but knew he wanted to ask, "So, why did you bring little Willy with anyway? You know we don't get along even a teeny bit."

"Incase this was a trap from Angelus, then he'd have my back. If it wasn't then I figured you two could suck it up and get along for a day. For me anyway."

"Okay that's one reason," he agreed then started fishing for more "What's the other?"

"There is no other, I needed someone strong to have my back."

"It's just, his scent I remember it pretty well, it's all over you… you were all over each other. Have you been sleeping together?"

"Dang vampires, anybody ever tell you the whole smelling people thing is a little gross." Buffy clearly didn't want to continue the conversation, but Angel pressed on.

"And the way you were acting after he came in. Is he your boyfriend?" almost hurt as he asked.

"Is that really your business?"

"You in love with him?"

"I honestly don't know, Lorne says I am." Angel was a little confused "He convinced me to sing, said it would help me sort things out. Didn't work."

"Oh." was all Angel could say.

"What?"

"It's just, Lorne may be a bit extravagant, but he's usually right."

* * *

"No," Westley was aghast as he translated the slayer ritual used thousands of years ago "It can't be that simple."

"What is it Wes ol' boy?" Spike asked as he scooted his rolling chair from where Fred was to Wes.

"It's the slayer's creed. Into every generation a slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer." He looked up to Spike and Fred "There's another phrase or two added in but the blunt of the spell is what we were taught at the watcher's academy."

"Well these shadow men became the first Watchers right?" Fred recalled from the meeting.

"Well yes, I just never imagined the creed held a magical purpose."

"Right, so we got the words down, now how do we get demon Spike out and make him in to demon concentrate?"

"Well we need some kind of container, like an Ethros or Shorshack box, we can store the demon in and preform the needed rituals, although getting him out will more or less be an exorcism." Wes supplied.

"Bloody hell? Are you serious?"

"How else do you get a demon out of a body?"

"But doesn't exorcism on a vampire, ya know, make um all dusty?" Fred asked.

"A typical one would, but we obviously need to alter it in this case." Westley pondered over his books "Why don't you take a walk Spike, you're looking more worried every time I open my mouth."

"Oh, that obvious huh? Yeah maybe a walk would be best, or uh, how do I get to your training center from here?"

"Oh that's not too hard, go back to the elevator, down 4 floors, the take a right out of the elevator then about half way down the hall take a left, then it'll be your first door on the right. It has a glass window in it and says training room right on there."

"Right, thanks pet."

* * *

"Look Angel, I didn't really want to share this before, but you know how we saw a ton of different dimensions when we did that spell?" Buffy felt she needed to be honest with Angel, especially if Lorne was right and she was truly in love with Spike.

"Yeah, where you and Spike were the stars."

"Well in most of them, we were together, to varying degrees."

"Oh… none where I sweep you off your feet and Spike dies tragically?"

"Not so much."

Angel knew exactly what she was getting at. "I'm always going to love you Buffy, for as long as I live."

"I know, and part of me will always be in love with you. God you were my first, everything, and nobody can take that from you." She leaned over and hugged the original vampire with a soul, he returned the gesture in kind. The old lovers held their embrace, until the door to the training room swung open and Spike strode in, not too pleased with either of them.

"See, this is why I bloody came, can't trust you two alone for a second!"

"Ha! I was right, I knew there was another reason he came." Angel boasted to Buffy.

Buffy rolled her eyes "Spike, calm down, Angel shut up."

"Fine," Spike started in a calm voice "Why are you and your ex snogging?"

"We weren't snogging you idiot, we were just hugging, and it was pretty much a goodbye hug anyway."

"Then why you both all sweaty?"

"Do you see where we are Spike? We were sparing, then we got tired, took a break talked for a bit then hugged."

"Then it was gonna turn to kissing, then shagging, then I'd have to kill the evil bastard and you'd just be mad at me forever for killing the fu…"

"Spike!" Buffy stopped him before he could finish and make her really mad, then she stood up and walked toward him, she stopped in front of him and said softly "You really think I'd cheat on you Spike?"

His eyes blinked in confusion "You feeling alright Slayer, cause I swear you just admitted we're a pair?"

"I've got some stuff I need to get to, the CEO has probably been away from his desk too long as it is." Angel snuck toward the door. "I'll leave you two be." And with that they were alone in the training room.

"What's gotten into you Slayer?" Spike asked, unsure if he wanted to hear the answer "You nearly admitted we were together in front of Angel."

"He already knows."

"You told him?"

"No, he knew this morning, I apparently kinda smelled like you and you very much so smelled like me. It was a smell-a-mentary conclusion as Dawn would say…"

"Oh, well I suppose I didn't shower before I came down, should have known better I guess."

"It's fine Spike, Angel and I were talking and he's more or less accepted it. Then I reminded him he'll always be my first and gave him one last good hug, that's when you barged in."

"Wait, I missed the bit on how he accepted it… Cause the ponce I know wouldn't do that in a million years."

"I sang for Lorne before lunch, and he more or less told me I'm in love with you and we'd both be better off if I just accept it. And from Angel's experience… Lorne knows best."

"Really?" smug grin washing away the doubt on his face "Sooo?"

"Sooo what?"

"What'd ya sing?" he taunted.

"I'm not saying a word."

"Oh, come on Slayer," he pulled her in close against him "Do I know it?"

"Not really."

"So your generations garble. Let's see… That 'Hit Me Baby' song by Brittany."

"No. it's not by anyone."

"How can you sing techno crap?"

"Not techno music."

"Common pet, give me a phrase or tune or clue or something?"

"You never heard it but probably knew I sang it."

"Ahh, one of the dittys Demon Sweets brought out in us?" he almost laughed.

"Yeah, the 'Walk through the Fire' song I sang as I headed to the Bronze."

"I remember that." He cleared his throat a moment then sang "The torch I bare it scorches me, Buffy's laughin I've no doubt. I hope she fries, I'm free if that bitch dies… I'd better help her out."

"Glad you did?" She smiled.

"Bloody right. If I hadn't saved you then I may not have you in my arms today." Buffy blushed at the notion, remembering she was in his strong embrace. She looked up at the vampire's deep blue eyes that were staring lovingly at her. Then she eased up on her tip toes and softly laid her lips on his. Taken back by the gesture but wanting the kiss to last Spike tightened his embrace, holding her up off the floor, as Buffy wrapped her arms around him in turn. Lips shifted but never parted, and a tongue even slipped past a time or two. Neither of them wanted this kiss to stop, but this was not the time or the place to get re-acquainted. Spike pressed into her lips one last time then broke free and set Buffy's feet back on the ground. Spike was shaking with excitement. "Now, the only reason I stopped is cause you're gonna assure me that won't be the only bleeding kiss I'll get."

Buffy giggled a little "I hope that's the first of many Spike."

"No, no, none of this 'hope' business. Are you my girl now?" He was very serious, staring her straight in the eye and still shaking a little. _God Slayer, if you say anything but yes I'm gonna cry…_

 _My lips are still warm from the exquisite kiss, my heart is pumping, and I'm not sure but is my underwear wet? Just admit it Buffy, it'll make the worry stop for a while and make him insanely happy..._ She took a breath kept one hand around his waist and placed the other on his cheek. "I love you Spike."

Spike wanted so badly to make love to her right there, but restrained himself and had to ask "You sure pet, don't be saying that yet if you're not sure."

"I'm sure Spike, and you were right I think I have been for a while now, but I was too scared to admit it to you or myself even."

His smile couldn't get any bigger "I love you Buffy." He started her down for a moment, reading a clear 'duh' look on her face, then explained. "I'm sorry I just wanted to know what that was like to say, without you wanting to prance off."

"Oh, better?"

"Bloody brilliant." He leaned down and kissed her, then picked her up and twirled her around "Buffy I love you," then he kissed her again "God I love you so much."


	12. Chapter 12: Life Blood

Chapter 12 – Life Blood

 _Do I tell her? Do I wait? I don't want to get her hopes up if it doesn't work. But I don't want to leave her side._ Spike wrestled with what to say as Buffy and him made their way up to the science lab. _And she'll kind of need to know if they are gonna need her blood for the sodding spell…_ hand in hand they exited the elevator and headed for the door, but before they entered Spike stopped. "Buffy?" he asked warily.

"What's wrong Spike?"

"Just, you wantin everyone to know about us just yet?" he held up their entwined fingers as he asked.

"Well," Buffy pondered for a moment _Why not really? Won't be a big shock to these people. But what about the gang… that might be earthshattering…_ "Here, I don't care who knows. You're mine and I'm yours, and that's just how it is now." She squeezed her hand in his.

"But when we get back to Sunny-D?"

"Let me find a time to tell them, and how exactly." Spike raised an eyebrow at her "I promise I will, I just don't think they're gonna take it too well…"

"So, if she promises not to spill the beans, can I tell Dawnie first?"

"What is it with you and my sister? Should I be worried?" she joked.

"No, nothing like that pet. She just gets me, and you know she ought to know first."

"I suppose, can we go in now, I wanna see if they dug up anything else useful before we gotta go."

"Right luv." He released her hand and opened the door for her to enter first. Fred was jumping around the lab between her notes and a few experiments she seems to be juggling. Wes hadn't seemed to have moved from the table he was at when Spike left, three books open in front of him and a small stack of papers with notes on them.

"So Mr. Ex-Watcher, ya got any new goodies for me?" Buffy asked as she strode up and took a seat across the table.

"Oh, Buffy, hello." He looked to Spike for a moment then shuffled his papers around, like he was looking for something but was just trying to hide his more crucial notes on the spell Buffy was supposed to be unaware of. "What brings you down? I thought you were giving Angel a run for his money?"

"Been there, done that, he really has been behind that desk a little too long. He's losing his touch a little. I remember it being harder to match him."

"I suppose he has been pushing more papers than punching out demons as of late."

"So nothing new on our little rock of sunshine?"

"Um, no, I think we dug up all we could on it earlier."

"What's Fred so busy with?"

"I'm, ahh, not too sure, I've been buried in my research."

"Don't you have a whole department upstairs where you can do that? Why you down in science world?"

"Oh, well Fred and I like to bounce ideas off each other, helps us from getting stuck. For example right now were working on a case in which we need to expel a demon from a non-human body, and preserve the body."

"Regenerative demons!" Fred yelled then she looked around and actually saw Spike and Buffy for the first time "Sorry, brain blast." Then she walked over to the table "What about mixing blood of a regenerative demon and our demon."

"What good would that do pet?" Spike asked, a little too intrigue possibly if he wanted to keep this all a secret from Buffy.

"Well our client is a dead demon with a second parasitic demon inhabiting her body, so if we make the demon body alive by mixing her blood with a regenerative demon's blood, we wouldn't have to go through a dangerous exorcism."

"You may be on to something Fred, then we use our magical container to draw the demon in before it can flee into the either." Westley started flipping through his demon source book.

"Exactly, then we just have to perform the mwenye kuua mtu ritual."

"The thing is I don't know if we have a shaman strong enough to preform that ritual, it took three shamans the last time it was done." Westley intervened.

"What about Willow?" Buffy chimed in "You guys have helped us quite a bit by getting us the amulet and the info on it, I'm sure if Willow can help she'd be happy to."

"She is quite powerful." Westley started, still paging through his book of demons.

"And she was able to help get Angel's soul back in a jiffy." Fred added.

"I could send her down after our apocalypse." Buffy offered.

"If that ain't too bloody late for your demon," Spike interjected "What'd you say you send us with a copy of your notes and little miss Red can look um over and see if she can help?"

"Right," Westley agreed "That should be fine, just give me a little more time to clarify the ritual." Then he raised his hand "Gotchya' a Mora demon, demonic assigns that cannot die from mortal wounds. Their blood is used to heal wounds in moments, so there's a high price on them in the black markets, and they're very hard to find, unless they're after you of course." Buffy walked over to the book and read up on the demon.

"So mixing their blood with a dead body would get the heart to beat again?" Fred asked.

"In theory, yes. We need to find one and test this theory before we try it on our client, cause I think the ritual is a one shot deal."

"We got a few hours before we can get going, where can I find one?" Buffy asked.

"You're not going alone pet." Spike insisted.

"Last I checked it's still sunny out, and this guy isn't afraid of the sun like you." Buffy pointed out "Plus I'd like to head back as soon as the sun does go down."

"Still don't like you goin after a regenerative demon alone."

"I'll go with her," Westley offered "I'm thinking a binding spell may be more helpful than keeping it on conscious till we get back."

"Good thinking Wes."

"Alright, let's get me something blunt or pointy and get going." Buffy started toward the door then spun around and asked "Where exactly? It said something about salt?"

"They need a lot of salt to survive, I've got a few places in mind we can check." Westley jotted down a binding spell as Spike walked up to Buffy by the door.

"Be careful luv, no client is worth you getting killed." Spike knew she was full capable, but he still couldn't help but worry. He's been able to watch her back for so long. But he was also worried if she was gonna come to her senses in their time apart and figured she'd rather go out swinging than stay with him…

"I'll be fine Spike, I even got a wizard-ex-watcher to watch my back." She smiled and gave him a soft kiss "Be back before ya know it." With that she and Westley were out the door.

Spike felt useless being left behind like that, so he sauntered over to where Westley was working and tried to make heads or tails of what he found.

"So, that was new?" Fred poked.

"What's that pet?"

"She kissed you? Thought you two weren't gonna be a thing until this spell worked. You tell her about the spell already?"

"Oh, no, just Lorne gave her some advice and she gave into what she was feeling, said she loved me and everything." He said with a smile plastered on his face.

"She sang for Lorne?"

"Yeah, and Angel told her he's always right. So with the big man's blessing, here we are." Fred smiled back at Spike "But, if this spell doesn't pan out, I don't know how long we're gonna bloody last."

"So I should keep working?"

"That'd be grand."

* * *

"Why the hell is there a Mora demon in my lobby?" Angel asked rather perturbed by the intrusion. Buffy and Westley were wheeling in the demon on a stretcher. The binding spell emitted a soft yellow glow around the creature keeping him on conscious.

"Well Fred & I were working on a case and thought the blood of the Mora may be helpful." Westley insisted "And Buffy came up with the idea that we could probably enlist your secretary to help test our theory."

"See they're trying to make a dead thing live again and I figured Harmony was probably over the whole vampire thing by now, and wouldn't mind being a human again." Buffy supplied "Plus I don't wanna wait till after dark to capture a vampire or some other demon to test it on."

"Wait are you serious? I could be human again?" Harmony asked excitedly getting up from her desk.

"Yup, you get to see your reflection again, you get to go to the beach on a sunny day, no more drinking blood." Buffy tried to intrigue the dimwitted vampire.

But then she started to think of all the fun parts of being a vampire "But why would I want to do that, I'm so strong this way and its way easier to die when you're human."

"You don't have to test it I know it works, I've seen it happen." Angel explained, just then the elevator doors opened and Spike and Fred came in with Westley's notes & books, and a small wooden chest.

"If it's all the same I'd still like to test it before presenting it to our client." Westley continued.

"Who's the client, why haven't I heard about this case?"

"Oh well, we just didn't need to bother you with it is all, we're almost done anyway. Just gotta run this test with the Mora's blood to prove our hypothesis." Fred explained.

"Yeah, Wes & Buffy just explained." Angel was clearly still annoyed he didn't know this was going on "So who's the client?"

"Some undead demon chick with a second demon stuck in her." Buffy blurted, trying to be helpful. Spike could tell it was getting hard for Fred and Westley to keep the truth discreet, if Angel kept prodding like this they probably couldn't keep up the charade. _But if I come clean about it all what's to keep Angel from demanding they use the sodding spell on him so he can be with Buffy. And what the bloody hell would Buffy think of me for keeping this a secret, especially now that she's helping with it._ "So what'd ya say Harmony? You done being a creature of the night, wanna be a real girl again?"

"I suppose I don't really use the super-strength, and people never tried to actually kill me when I was human. Angel will I get fired if I'm not a vampire?"

"No." he replied curtly "You'll still have to bring me my blood."

"I think I can do that still. Sure, let's make me human!"

"Excellent." Westley replied, then pulled a knife out of the holster on his belt, he walked up to the mora and sliced into it's hand, coating the blade in a florescent green blood. Then he walked over to Harmony. "Give me your hand," she placed her hand in Westley's open palm "Spike, would you come over with the box." Spike walked up to the pair.

"What's that for?" Harmony asked.

"We want to draw your demon into the box and trap it rather than releasing it into the either."

"Oh, so like I could visit it?"

"Not exactly, now hold still. Ready Spike?"

"Ready." Then Westley cut deep into Harmony's hand, whipping the blade as he cut. After the blade was clear white sparks danced in Harmony's hand, the cut started to mend, and Harmony fell to her knees. A grey light arched out of her body and into the box Spike held, after a moment the light was out of Harmony and Spike promptly closed the box. Harmony fell to her hands, trying to catch her breath.

"Oh jeeze, my chest hurts."

"I would think so," Fred walked up, pulled the stethoscope off her neck and helped Harmony to her feet then placed the instrument against her chest "You haven't used your heart in quite some time." Fred smiled then placed the stethoscope in Harmony's ears.

"I can hear it, my hearts beating!" she was enamored by the sound.

"See you're a real girl again Harmony." Buffy said as she pointed to her now visible reflection in the mirror covered pillar across the lobby. Harmony raced across to take a closer look at herself, pleased with what she could now see. Spike could barely hide his excitement in how well that worked, he looked to Buffy. _Soon pet, I'm gonna make this work for us._

"So Wes, where do ya want this bundle of joy?" Spike asked.

"Let's bring it to Fred's lab, I wanna make sure it's secure in there." Westley answered half fibbing, since now he needed to test how to alter the demon form to work for the spell. Spike started toward the elevator with the box, Fred and Westley followed, pushing the mora toward the elevator. Fred had just pressed the button when Buffy popped up behind them.

"Spike, we can probably get going soon, I'm gonna go pack my things then meet you in Angel's office after you drop that off?"

Spike hadn't realized how late it had gotten, it was nearly sunset. "Sure thing pet." The three loaded in with the mora and headed down to the lab. "Thanks for not ratting me out."

"No problem. Angel did get way nosy-er than I thought he would." Fred replied.

"Indeed" Westley agreed "But the mora worked like a charm though, and we were able to capture Harmony's demon."

"So now what Wes, we gonna be able to do this all to me now or?" Spike asked excitedly.

"Not just yet Spike, after I run a couple of tests with Harmony's demon, I think Fred & I will head up to Sunnydale tomorrow, and enlist Willow to help with the spell."

"I've waited a few years, suppose one more bleeding day won't kill me."

"Brilliant." The elevator dinged open and the group made their way down the hall to the lab.

* * *

Buffy exited the elevator with her bag over her shoulder into Angel's office. Angel was sitting on one of the chairs, Lorne was sitting in the next chair chatting with him. Buffy set her bag down by the elevator then walked over to join them. "Pumpkin!" Lorne called "So, Angel tells me he gave you his blessing, you do anything about that yet?"

"Lorne I really don't need to be going through this again." Angel protested.

"Oh you know your gonna want to know regardless, and you won't have the kahunas to ask for weeks." Lorne reasoned "So, Buffy, you two kids talk?"

Feeling pretty awkward explaining this in front of Angel, but at the same time Lorne had a point, he'd want to know even if he'd never admit it. "Um, yeah, we talked, and I told him."

"Oh that is possibly the worst way to put a love story ever, sweet bread. Come on, what'd you say? How'd you say it? That boy is such a romantic, did he cry?"

"Fine Mr. Dramatic, no wonder you're running the entertainment department." Buffy laughed a little then composed herself, not noticing that the door to the office had started to open "Well, first I convinced him that Angel wasn't trying to get me back; at that point he managed to calm down and we started talking about the song I sang for you, and reminisced a bit about our musical demon fiasco. Then he said he was glad he couldn't kill me then or ya know any time before or since. Then he stared me down with those piercing blue eyes of his, then before he could say anything else, I kissed him. It felt like it was for the first time, not counting last year." Buffy looked down a moment and smiled "Then I finally told him I loved him. And he practically started jumping around the room in excitement," Buffy giggled and looked up at Lorne "He can be such a kid sometimes."

"Much better, you feel better buttercup?"

She looked to Angel who wasn't especially pleased with the conversation. "You were right Lorne."

"Now why'd you have to say that?" Angel asked, "He's already got a big head," Then Angel got an odd look on his face "Speaking of demons with big egos…"

"Poofter," Spike scoffed from across the room "And I believe a 'you were right Spike' is in order too." He added as he walked over to the group. "Cause I've been saying you love me for the past two bloody years." Buffy rolled her eyes at the vampire and flopped back on the couch.

"You honestly trying to convince us that William the Bloody doesn't have a big ego?" Angel asked.

"I like to call it confidence mate, besides, why waste time being humble? By the by I suppose I should thank you mate." Spike grabbed Lorne by the shoulder as he walked over to stand by Buffy. "You got the little lady to finally confess." He grabbed for Buffy's hand, holding it in his and smiled at her, then looked to Angel "And thanks for your blessing Pops," he managed to say with some genuine sincerity.

Angel was shocked by his rival's sincerity "Well, if or should I say when this doesn't work out and you hurt her." A wicked smile formed as he leaned forward "Then I'll finally get to stake you." He leaned back in his chair again.

"Fair enough." He looked to his girl. _If I hurt her, I may beat you to it mate… She's really mine, she's admitting it to her ex-poof and everything. God if I thought she go for it, I'd take her right here on this couch._ "So anything else need our attention, or can we get on the road?"

"I think we're all set here," Angel replied. "Buffy you got all the files we gave you?"

"Yup, packed away in my bag, the amulet still in the conference room?"

"Nope, it's locked in my desk, I'll grab it for ya." He walked over to his desk grabbed the amulet from a drawer and placed it in Buffy's bag, handing it to her as they walked up to the elevator.

"Well, it's been nice and awkward." Buffy said gave Angel a quick hug, and gave Lorne one as well, "It really was nice to meet you Lorne, and thanks."

"Oh, don't mention it crumb cake. Putting people on their paths is what I do."

Buffy & Spike loaded the elevator, waved one last goodbye, then just before the doors closed Spike held up a certain solitary finger and hollered to Angel "Sod off Gramps!" Just after the doors shut Spike was slapped on the back of his head. "Eh, worth it."


	13. Chapter 13: Coming Home

**CONTENT WARNING - This chapter contains explicit sexual content. If you choose to skip it, know the pertinence to the story is that they 'get together'... more than once...**

Chapter 13 – Coming Home

It was just past midnight when Spike & Buffy past by the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign. Spike decided to take the longer way home, cruising by the beach. Buffy just figures he was taking a loop around town to take a drive by patrol, Spike had other plans however. He pulled the motorcycle over on a grassy overlook of a secluded beach, the moon was bright in the sky, providing all the light they needed, and the waves gently crashing below, _perfect_. Spike thought to himself as he cut the engine.

"What's up Spike?" confused why they stopped so close to home "Don't tell me we're outta gas?"

"No luv, just hop off will ya." Still confused, but she obeyed his request. Then he climbed off the motorcycle himself and parked it. Then he took her hand and walked a little closer to the ledge, laid out his coat, and sat down on it in the grass. "I just wanted a little time to ourselves before we got back, you know how bleeding hard it is to get alone time in that sodding house as of late."

"But we really should be getting everything back to the gang." Spike looked up at her, not saying a word, it didn't take her long to cave and sit down beside him. "Fine, just cause God knows when we're gonna get another moment to ourselves." Buffy smiled and leaned in to rest against his chest. Spike held her close, breathing her in, he kissed the top of her head. For a while they sat there, satisfied, watching the waves below and just reveling in the comfort of the moment. "Spike?" Buffy mewed, not wanting to move.

"Yeah pet?"

"When did you realize you loved me? What happened that made it click for you? And when?"

"You catch the 'love story' bug from Lorne luv?"

"Maybe, but I was just thinking, you first told me you loved me a little while after Dawn found out she was the key, when Drusilla came to town. But when did you actually realize it?"

"Quite a bit before that luv." He thought for a moment "You remember when solider boy was having health problems and he needed that initiative doc?"

"The one you & Harmony kidnapped so he'd remove your chip?"

"That's the one, well that night, or well next day, I had a dream." Buffy sat up so she could look at the vampire "You had barged into my crypt like you do, to chew me out about my stupid plan, but actually had a stake at the ready to do me in. I told you to just bloody go ahead and do it. Just end my torment of seeing you every day, every time I turn around. I was begging you to take me out of a world that had you in it. I even stripped my shirt off for a clean stake." He paused, expecting some kind of comment from the girl, but she was enthralled by the story and motioned for him to continue. "Then you tried to stake me, but pulled your punch and stared me down. Then I grabbed you and kissed you, hard. You pulled away shocked of course, but then you walked back up to me and kissed me. Then you whispered you wanted me all hot and heavy, then I said I loved you and woke up."

"So what you accepted the dream after that?"

"Hell no, I thought I'd gone mad. But then the more I thought about the dream, it all made since, how I wasn't able to kill you. I mean that night you asked me to show you how I killed the other slayers. You said I was 'beneath you' and I was so brassed off I fully intended to kill you that night, then I saw you crying on the back porch about your mum, and I couldn't do it. That's when I truly understood I loved you."

"I remember that, you just sat there with me for a while, not needing anything from me."

"Seemed like what ya needed."

"You've always got me Spike." She smiled at him, then her thoughts started to wander _God, I want him to take me right now, but maybe we should wait until this is apocalypse is done, we'll probably both survive… But what if we don't, and we never truly make love…_

"Buffy." Spike asked interrupting her thoughts, stretched his left hand to hold her head then pulled it close to his and kissed her. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and guided her down to the ground with him. The kisses became more fevered and breathing became heavier on the soft grass. _Dam, how'd he know I wanted this now?_ Spike moved from her lips down to her neck, Spike could feel her pulse throbbing against his lips with each devouring kiss, but her blood wasn't what he was after. He pushed her coat off her shoulder, taking her tank top strap down with it, then started to kiss his way over to her bare shoulder. Buffy wriggled her arm out of the coat and shirt. After Spike had caressed her shoulder with his lips he extended his tongue and licked from her shoulder up her neck and back to her lips, sending a shiver throughout Buffy's entire body. Spike's nostrils flared, catching the scent of her arousal, he dove in for another fervent kiss against her lips. Buffy pushed into the kiss and rolled Spike onto his back as she straddled him, then removed the rest of her jacket as Spike glided his hands up her torso, removing her tank top as he went, then tossed it aside. With the clothing gone, it revealed a black lacy bra covering the slayer's breasts. "God you're beautiful." Spike said enamored by his girl, like seeing her for the first time.

"Why you so surprised?" She asked as she started to unbutton his shirt "You've seen it all before."

"Not like this luv, no shag last year came close to this." _Bloody nimble fingers,_ Spike thought as the slayer finished undoing his shirt before he said 'luv', then moved down to his belt. Flipped the buckle clear, and unbutton and unzipped his pants.

"You still go commando." Buffy noted as she released his penis from it's confines.

"Just makes things easier luv." He replied as he helped wriggle his pants down to his ankles. Then Buffy stood up, removed her boots, pants, and matching black lacy panties in a flash, before Spike had a chance to get his second boot off she was back on him. Kissing him with such passion and a persistence of tongue, as their members rubbed against each other. Then Buffy pulled away for a moment, slid her hand down Spike's chest and grabbed hold of his cock, giving it a few long strokes before she poised her wet opening over it.

She gave him a seductive look then asked teasing "Ya want it?"

Spike could have blown right there but instead pulled himself together to shutter a "God yes!" then she glided her wet center onto his shaft, both moaned in delight, they had seemingly forgotten how amazingly they fit together. "Buffy I love you! God I love you so much!" Buffy merely let her moans of delight respond as she continued to thrust her center against his. Spike laid one hand against her ass and the other across her back, then in one clean motion roll, he swapped their positions. Buffy squirmed in delight, remembering how great he was at finding her g-spot from this angle, and sure enough on the first thrust she couldn't help but let out an elated cry of pleasure. With every thrust Buffy let out even louder cries of satisfaction, until she felt a hot surge start to run through her body.

"Oh Spike!" she hollered into the night as her body tremored with a mind-blowing orgasm, and at that cry of his name and feeling the slayer's pussy clenching around his cock he released his load into her, then stared down at his beautiful lover in the moonlight, still trembling a little from the release. Spike gently rolled Buffy to her side and laid beside her, keeping his penis within her warm center. Buffy laughed once in her throat as she noticed what he'd done. "You remembered I liked keeping him in after?"

Spike smiled "Of course, I remember every bloody thing about you luv."

Buffy smiled in return "I love you."

"I love you too." He leaned forward and kissed her "I've gotta be the luckiest bloke in the world to have you in my arms, not to mention nearly starkers."

"Yeah, why's my bra still on?" she joked.

"Wasn't enough time luv, plus you were good to go without me so much as touching 'em, and they look so pretty all dressed in lace."

"But they like the attention." Buffy pouted.

"Next time luv," he bent his head down and softly kissed each supple breast "I promise." He whispered to them.

"You are so weird." Buffy declared pulling his head up, they laughed for a little bit at their odd relationship. Then Buffy puffed out a breath and wiggled her wet and leaking center off Spike's shrunken penis "Time to get back to our regularly scheduled apocalypse." She reminded as she stood up and started searching for her clothes. Spike did the same, fastening his jeans and grabbing his shirt.

As he buttoned his shirt, he kept his eyes glued on his girl, watching her get dressed. He cocked is head to the side and thought, _She's bloody gorgeous no matter what she's doing… Wonder if I have time to undress her again?_ Then he realized she was staring right at him "What?"

"I asked, have you seen my tank top?" She was fully dressed on her lower half, jacket in hand, just no shirt. Spike helped her look, but after a few minutes, neither of them could find it. Then Spike glanced over the edge of the cliff, and saw a red garment caught in a tree about halfway down.

"Found it." Buffy walked over to where he was standing.

"Oh come on, you had to throw it off the cliff?"

"Wasn't too focused on where the clothing ended up after it came off luv." He wrapped an arm around her bare midriff and pulled her against him "What'dya say we lose more of your clothes?" he kissed her cheek then ventured down her neck.

 _Dam, there is no quit in him, and it feels sooooo good. Buffy felt the urges start to return. No, we can't, we need to get back._ Spike loosed his tongue and licked the slayer from her collar bone up to her left ear, then gently nibbled on her lobe. "Spike, we, uh we need to." She was meaning to protest, but it came out more heated and only added fuel to Spike's growing hard-on. He pulled away from her ear and dove for her lips kissing them furiously, mixing their tongues together, barley letting her come up for air. He grabbed the coat from her arm and tossed it toward the motorcycle. They shuffled away from the edge to where Spike's coat was laid out on the ground, by the time they got there, Spike's shirt was off again and his pants were around his ankles. Spike broke the kiss to quickly remove his shoes and the rest of his pants, then shot back up and grabbed hold of Buffy, lifting her up in his arms kissing her passionately then laying her on his coat. As he laid her down she felt a strange feeling across her chest, then looked up. _When the hell did he un-do that?_ She asked herself seeing her bra in his hand. He tossed it toward the bike, then swooped in and continued kissing her but then ventured south. Kissing and licking his was down her neck to her supple breasts.

"I told you they'd get attention next time." Spike reminded then dove in to suckle the right breast, teasing the nipple between his teeth and his tongue.

"Oh, Spike!" Buffy elated as she grabbed the back of his head and pressed it in "More! Harder!" she moaned. Spike did as he was told biting and sucking harder on the teat while he squeezed the other breast in is hand. Buffy moans of delight only got louder with every bite or squeeze. Spike released the breasts for a moment kissing his way down to the Slayer's pelvis, he undid her pants, pushed them down as far as they would go, pulled her panties to the side and drove his well hardened cock deep into her. Buffy's scream of delight got caught in the back of her throat. Spike kept plowing his cock deep into her pussy as he returned to the slayers breasts, hand upon the right, and mouth upon the left. Spike growled as he bit down and sucked hard on the breast while pounding into her wet center. Buffy's moans turned to cries getting louder with every stroke, until Spike couldn't take it anymore and gave one final hard thrust into her as he blew his load. At that sensation Buffy's pussy started to spasm, and the rest of her body followed.

After a moment Buffy pulled at Spike, motioning to have him rest his head on her breast, he wasn't about to refuse. Spike laid there listening to Buffy's heart beat slowdown from the rush. _Soon luv, I'll have one of these like you._ He smiled at the thought, then turned his head toward Buffy's.

"Yes Spike?" She asked, her breathing nearly normal now.

"Why me?" Buffy was thrown by the question, _He knows why him, he's the one who gave me all the reasons._ "Why am I the lucky bloke who gets to please you?"

"Well you do it so well." Buffy jested, they laughed a moment, then she said more seriously "Because you've always been there for me, and we fit together too good to be apart." She smiled at him and added "Plus the vampire growls and your accent is pretty sexy."

"Brilliant." Then Spike glided up to kiss his girl. "I love you Buffy."

"I love you too Spike. But we really best get back now."

"Right." This time Spike wandered around looking for his clothes while Buffy simple pulled up her pants and walked over to the motorcycle where her bra and jacket laid. After he was dressed Spike grabbed his coat up off the ground, threw it on and strode over to the bike. "Ready pet?"

"Think so," her jacket was zipped up as far as it'd go "You can't tell I don't have a shirt on right?"

"Looks fine to me pet."

"Great, once we get home I'm gonna run upstairs so I can change and not even risk it. You promise you'll behave and not spill the beans?"

"Hey, so long as I can tell Dawnie first, I'll behave 'till after the apocalypse." Spike released the kickstand and mounted the bike.

"Thank you." Buffy gave him a kiss then climbed on the back of the motorcycle. With that Spike revved the engine and they were off.


	14. Chapter 14: Can't Contain It

Chapter 14 – Can't Contain It

"Finally!" Dawn blurted as she popped up from the couch. "Sorry Anya, continue." Anya was helping the potentials through demon studies in the living room. Dawn thought it'd be worthwhile to join at least until Buffy & Spike returned, which should have been an hour ago if they left at sunset… Dawn poked her head into the dining room where Willow sat doing more research; Xander had tried to help but was passed out on a book. "Hey they're back!" she said excited and loud enough to wake Xander. Then went to open the door.

"I'm awake" He jolted, "Who's got a hairy back?"

"Our super people are back from Evil Incorporated." Willow clarified as she got up to stretch, yawning in the process.

"Oh," was all Xander could say before he yawned himself.

Dawn opened the door as Buffy came up the walk, Spike was not far behind. "Hey Dawn." Buffy greeted with a short hug "Miss me?"

"Eh, I think I missed Spike more." Dawn teased.

"I heard that." Spike announced, as he made it to the doorway "See, I told you she likes me more."

"Sure she does," Buffy handed her bag to Dawn "The files and amulet are in my bag, Spike can get you started. I gotta use the restroom, be right back." Buffy scurried up the stairs to her room to change and freshen up, hopefully she didn't have any grass or leaves in her hair… She hadn't directly asked Spike about that…

"So is Angel still not breathing, or did you two finally duke it out?" Dawn asked.

"He's still undead." Spike replied as he closed the door and followed Dawn into the dining room "I had to behave with big sis around." Then he looked to Dawn "You mind fetching me some blood little bit?" with a nod Dawn handed off the bag to Spike and headed for the kitchen.

"Don't tell me she went all gaga over her ex?" Xander asked tuning into the conversation.

"Na, slayer did fine," Spike couldn't help but smile a little. "Angel's still got his bloody soul." Then he pulled the files and the amulet out of the bag placing them on the table.

"What's with the smile?" Xander asked wary "You're creepin me out?"

 _Shit, keep it together mate, you can't tell them anything or Buffy would kill you... or at least never shag you again_. "Nothin, just for as much of a wanker he is, he's got some good mates down there."

"I remember, had to go help them re-soul Angel a month or so ago." Willow supplied "Isn't that Fred just adorable? And so smart!"

"Yeah, she's a peach. Worked with her on a project."

Willow looked around for a moment, making sure her girlfriend wasn't snooping then said quieter "If I hadn't just started dating Kennedy I would have been all over her." Willow nearly blushed in her confession.

"Contrary to what her name suggests I don't think she's a muff diver Red." Willows eyes widened at the comment while Xander just sat confused thinking about the term "And I hate to tell ya, but I think that bird is spoken for."

"It, uh, it didn't look like she was seeing someone?"

"You didn't see it?" Spike asked, her face stayed puzzled "Wes is head over heels for her, just waiting for her to bloody see it. He insists on doing his research in her lab cause he claims they help each other. Which they do, but still, they're one song away from a good shag."

"What? One song?"

"If they'd just sing for that Lorne fellow he could tell them straight up how they feel."

"Oh, yeah isn't that so weird? How he can read your future? I don't suppose either of you sang for him?"

"Oh, muff diver!" Xander interrupted finally figuring out what the phrase meant, clearly a little too loud, and not so appropriate as Dawn walked back in the room. Quickly Xander searched for a new topic. "So, uh, how's Cordy doing?" Xander asked trying to seem casual.

"She's uh," Spike paused, not sure how to put it, then took a seat at the table "Not doing so well mate." Xander's face changed from hopeful to confused "She's in a mystical coma of sorts, nothins worked to pull her out of it yet, even with all their new resources."

"Poor Cordelia." Was all Willow could muster to say, then she started flipping through the file from Wolfram & Hart.

"She's in as good of hands as she can be, they may all be at evil incorporated, but they're still good folks." Dawn handed Spike a mug, then took a seat at the table herself, he drank a bit from the warm mug then added "You know, for now."

"So that rock gonna save our skins?" Dawn asked anxiously.

Spike nodded "Fred included a whole breakdown on what it is, said that may help ya figure out how to use it. And Wes threw in it's whole mystical history for you nibblet." Dawn perked up and walked over to Willow. "He was quite impressed with your ideas."

"Cool." Dawn grabbed a small handful of papers from the pile that were paper clipped together with a note that said 'History' "This it?" she asked holding it up to Spike

"Should be, Wes put his number somewhere in there if ya got questions."

"Great, cause we still have no clue when or if Giles is coming back."

"He stays gone much longer he's gonna miss the whole apocalypse." Xander added.

"So, me and the Slayer miss much?"

"Na, Kennedy led a few workouts and Anya & Andrew have been helping them study up on demons and magic basics." Xander supplied "Which reminds me they should probably all be getting to bed" he headed for the living room but stated before he left them "Yup, we all survived without our super-people for a day. But a small part of me was hoping something horrible would happen then I could say a big 'I told you so' for leaving us super-less." Then he stepped out.

"Hey I was here," Willow refuted, "had a protection spell ready and everything."

"You had to use one?" Buffy asked as she entered the room, donning some sweatpants and an old Sunnydale High gym shirt. Spike smiled _God she looks brilliant in anything._ Then he was reminded of his company and swept the smile from his face.

"Nope, just had one ready in case the FIRST got wind of your trip." Willow explained "Spike was just filling us in on some of your fun."

"I have anything left to tell?" Buffy asked, with a clear double meaning to Spike.

"Plenty luv. I just handed um the files and bragged about Angel's crew a bit, and how ya know they aren't actually evil."

"Ah," Buffy replied, just glad he kept his mouth shut about them like he promised. She continued to cross the room and took the empty seat next to Spike. Xander walked back in taking a seat across from Buffy.

"You know, it doesn't mention um by name." Dawn interjected "But I think this amulet was conceived by the guardians."

"Okay, my little sister does not need to be using that word, just say made or created please."

"It literally says conceived." Dawn argued pointing to the file in front of her "Besides, sounds smarter than 'made'." She mocked.

Buffy rolled her eyes and looked to Spike "Have you met my know-it-all little sister?" Spike just smiled and laughed, a very odd sound for all but Dawn and Buffy to hear.

Xander leaned across the table toward Buffy "What'd they do to him in LA? He's smiling, and laughing, it's creeping me out."

"They didn't do anything to him Xander, I think he just missed Angel."

"Oi, I did not!"

"You're saying you didn't enjoy calling him a wanker, ponce, nancyboy, gramps, or any other colorful label you came up with?" She recited, counting each name on her hand as she said them.

"Na, your right. That was a bit of fun." He conceded as a smile returned to his face.

Buffy rolled her eyes again, but kept a smile on her face too, then turned her attention to Willow, remembering the current threat. "So Wil, what'd'ya need to know about the amulet?"

"Well, Wes & Fred laid it all out pretty well, I just gotta compare my notes and see if it'll all work. They mention anything that isn't in the files?"

"Well Westley wasn't too keen on us not using it like the texts suggests. Through a champion and all, but we're pretty sure that's when Spike and I got all crispy in the other dimensions, so I'd rather not."

"We're not gonna let you burn Buffy." Willow reassured "Just cause the books don't say so doesn't mean we can't."

"Yeah, there've been plenty of times we've found a loop-hole," Xander supplied "Anyone remember a certin rocket launcher that make Judge go boom?"

"Now that was ballsy, wish I could have seen it."

"I was pretty cool, he didn't know what it was and Angelus and Drusilla were running away with an 'oh shit' look on their faces." Xander laughed as Spike joined in.

"Didn't he ask what the sodding thing did just before he blew up?" Spike asked.

"Yup" Xander responded laughing "he was all 'What's that do?' then boom! Bite size Judge pieces."

"Boys?" Buffy interrupted, they both stopped laughing and looked at her "As much as I love the manly bonding, can we stay on topic so I can maybe get some sleep tonight?"

"We weren't bonding, I hate him." Xander refuted.

Spike was about to concur with the boy but a look from Buffy shut them both up. "Thank you."

* * *

Another hour or so passed as the gang discussed the spell and the plan a few times over, making tweaks and rising questions on exactly how it would all work. Dawn was the first to call it quits for the night, grabbing the dishes she could off the table and heading for the kitchen, Spike got up and grabbed the few cups she couldn't and went to the kitchen to help her. Xander took that opportunity to head to bed himself, saying a quick goodnight and went to plop on the living room couch. Then Buffy and Willow got up from the table, Buffy popped her head in the kitchen to say a quick goodnight to Spike & Dawn then headed up the stairs with Willow.

"Wil?" Buffy asked as they reached the top of the stairs, her friend looked to her. "Can I talk to you, alone for a minute, or more?" She motioned to her room.

Confused Willow followed her in and shut the door quietly behind them. "What's on your mind?" she asked as she took a seat next to her on her bed.

"Well some other stuff happened in LA, and I didn't want to tell the group just yet, but if I don't tell someone I'm just gonna burst and…"

"Just tell me."

Buffy took a deep breath, still not sure how to phrase it "Well you know how we make choices, and some are good, and some are not so good and some seem exactly right and perfect at the time but then you get back to your real life and you realize why your brain was saying no when it was happening. And I really wanna tell you about the secrete this time cause you're my best friend and it was really dumb for us not to talk about our problems last year and…"

"Buffy!" she exclaimed quietly, as to not wake the house, and grabbed a hold of her friend "What happened in LA? Did they do something to you there? Did you and Angel almost…"

"No, I mean not really, 'they' didn't do anything, I just…" Buffy took a deep breath then finally confessed, "I kissed Spike, like really kissed him." Willow wasn't terribly shocked by the confession, not like they hadn't done worse. "And may have also I told him that I loved him." Willow eyes got wide.

* * *

After Spike heard the friends clear the top of the stairs he couldn't contain it anymore, just Dawn and him in the kitchen, now was his chance to brag. "So little bit, you really miss me more than big sis?"

Dawn laughed a little "I don't know, you know I just said that to get a rise out of her." She surmised as she started to wash the small pile of dishes.

"Oh come on, you know I'm more fun." Spike teased as he sat up on the kitchen counter towel in hand.

"Yeah, and you're the only one who doesn't treat me like a porcelain doll." She handed him a plate to dry.

Spike accepted the plate and as he wiped it dry he asked "I thought big sis was getting better at that?"

"Better, but I'm still her little sister." She handed him another plate "So, what all did you really do in LA? You were there a whole day, to just talk about the amulet the whole time?"

"Na that meeting only went till noon or so, & I missed most of it, Buffy let me sleep. After lunch, Buffy trained a bit with Angel, who has apparently gotten soft pushing papers." Dawn giggled a little "And I helped Fred & Wes with a project."

"What kinda project was that?" she handed him the last plate, but before she could grab the last mug to clean Spike answered her question honestly.

"Making me a slayer." Dawn froze, then slowly turned to look at Spike, he face started to shift from shock to confusion "Yeah pet, they think they can replicate the ritual to create the first slayer. So by using my own demon, and the blood of a mora demon and possibly your sis's help, I'll be human, but have the strength of a demon."

"But why?" she asked still flabbergasted at the idea.

"Why did I get my bloody soul back? Why does a man do what he mustn't?" Dawn realized she was dumb to ask "For her, to be her's." Spike smiled to himself, trying to find the best way to tell her the greatest part of the whole trip.

"I suppose that's all you've really wanted for a while now." Dawn was still confused, but it did make more sense. She grabbed for the mug.

"Since I bloody saw her, I've wanted her, just didn't see it was love till couple years ago." Dawn handed him the clean mug, "So if you could give ol'Wes a ring in the morning, to see when they're commin that'd be great."

Dawn started to drain the sink "Wait what? Tomorrow?" She grabbed the towel from Spike to dry her hands "You're becoming a non-vampire-super-human tomorrow?"

"Wes & Fred said they'd come in the morning, just haven't figured a reason to explain why there coming."

"Wait so Buffy doesn't even know about this?"

"No, and I was hopin to keep it hush hush until it's done. So if you can keep her out of it if we don't need her, or convince her it's part of the sunshine spell that'd be brilliant."

Dawn was still plenty confused, but a small spark went off in her brain to help explain it all. She leaned back against the island across from Spike and crossed her arms "If this spell works, you're golden." She muttered as she recalled their conversation from a few days ago. "This was her big hang-up on not admitting it and letting you two happen."

"That's right pet." Spike plastered a smile to his face as he came up with his next words "But the thing is, the spell ain't gonna change a bleeding thing now," Dawns moment of clarity faded and was back to total confusion, especially because he was still smiling "I don't want her to change her mind now that she's said she loves me." Dawn's mouth began to gape open.

* * *

"But you two, you've never been on that level exactly, so why now? What's changed?" Willow asked.

"I mean Lorne said I loved Spike and told me to just go for it and Angel said Lorne's always right so I did and I mean it doesn't feel wrong…"

"Buffy," Willow interrupted "Where is this all coming from? Cause last I checked you two were never gonna happen. And need I remind you of the Angel break-up? Why is Spike going to be any different in the end?"

"Part of me is definitely aware of that Wil. What if this all is wrong and I'm just doomed to be heartbroken over a vampire all over again?"

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Willow trying to wrap her head around her friend's lack of logic, and Buffy trying to find a way to explain herself. "So, you figured this out during your trip?"

"Yeah, sang for Lorne, he didn't see any guy but Spike in my future. Then told me I could make us both way happier if I just gave into the passion."

"Isn't that what we're told not to do as teens?"

"Right," Buffy laughed a little "But we aren't teens anymore."

"Maybe not, but this dating vampires isn't good for you."

"What if he wasn't a vampire, but still strong? Like a boy-slayer or something?"

"Buffy, your placing hope where there isn't any."

"But there was one dimension where Spike and I were married and had kids, so he was human."

"We don't know what dimension that was, that could have been an all human dimension, no demons or vampires. And human you two just ended up together." Willow was desperately trying to stop her friend's hopes before they hurt her.

"No, cause if it was that dimension, Spike & I wouldn't both be alive in the same time period, he'd be dead long before I was born." Buffy refuted.

"All I'm trying to say is, I don't think it's healthy for you to be going through this again, and Spike won't be the one to walk away when the time comes. And that's just gonna make you be the one to hurt him, which will just hurt you more… and…" Willow covered one of Buffy's hands with hers "I just don't wanna see you get hurt Buffy."

* * *

"You're telling me she actually said it?" Dawn clarified "She said I love you? Like with her mouth?"

"Well we did make out a little before and after she said it, so yeah."

"Holy crap?!" Dawn was thrown, she didn't think Buffy would ever admit it "Why? You say something that finally took?"

"Wasn't me pet. She sang for Lorne, and he said deep down she was in love with me. Then Angel said Lorne's always right, and then Angel pretty much gave us his blessing. So if this spell works like it should, I'll be around permanent like you and I both want little bit."

"Sounds good to me." She said excitedly with a grin now plastered to her face.

"There is one catch pigeon."

"Oh, come on!" she whined, then asked "What is it?"

"Can't tell anyone about us, not till Buffy does. She promised me I could tell you but wanted to keep it quiet until after the current apocalypse."

"Oh, that's all. Ehh, sounds like Buffy." She shrugged, still giddy at the news "But I can tell Buffy how happy I am for you two?"

"By all means nibblet, convince big sis she made the right choice. Without spilling about the spell mind you." He raised an eyebrow to affirm he was serious.

"Of course." She assured, then remembered how late it was "So, you sleeping up or down?"

"I think down would be best, trying to keep us a secrete and all doesn't work when I'm in Buffy's room in the morning." He explained as he hopped off the counter.

"True, well goodnight Spike." She swooped in to give him a quick fierce hug, if it was anyone else Spike would have shoved them off, and possibly punched um out. But the soft spot he had for Dawn allowed her such privileges.

He returned the hug, and kissed the top of her head and said a sweet "Goodnight little bit." Then Spike headed for his basement cot, and Dawn slunked up the stairs. She was almost to her room when Buffy's door opened and Willow stepped out. Dawn turned around and asked "She still up?"

"Not for long, we should all be getting to bed Dawnie." Willow whispered.

"I just had a quick question I wanna ask before I forget." Willow shrugged and went on to her room while Dawn nudged Buffy's door open. "Buffy?"

"Dawn?" She replied, turning her lights back on "What's up, why aren't you asleep yet?"

"I was chatting with Spike."

"Of course you were, about what pray-tell?"

"What do you think?"

"I think he couldn't keep his trap shut for one night."

"Can you blame him? He is so excited! And dam'it, I am too!" Dawn lunged in to hug her sister. Buffy was thrown, this was a very different conversation than the one she just had with Willow. Not completely unexpected reaction from her little sister, but still. Dawn pulled back from the hug and sat on the bed beside her. "You finally let your heart speak for once, and made someone you love insanely happy."

"You have a point anytime soon Dawn?"

"Sorry I'll let you get to sleep. I just wanted to say I think you did the right thing, and I'm really happy for you two." She hugged her sister one more time then left the room. Buffy clicked the lights off again and laid down to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15: One Last Sip

**CONTENT WARNING: Fair warning, some explicit sexual content in this chapter, however it is brief, the majority of the chapter surrounds the apocalypse plans.**

Chapter 15 – One Last Sip

Light beamed in through Buffy's window as she woke to the sound of teenage girls fighting over the main hall bathroom. That would be her cue to quickly use hers and open it up to the house. _Well it's not like I have a sexy vampire to keep me in bed today._ She thought as she rolled out of bed, took care of business in the bathroom then threw her hair up in a ponytail and stared into her closet. _Work-out or something a little slutty, maybe sexy functional… would it be too odd if I wore a skirt or dress?_ She smiled, _that'll work,_ and pulled out a long black leather skirt. _The last time I wore this was the first time Spike & I got friendly…_ She donned the skirt then threw on a white tank top and her denim jacket then opened her door to let the anxious girls in to get ready for the day. At the bottom of the stairs she found Dawn and Willow rifling through papers. "Morning." She greeted, they both mumbled a morning in return, clearly not wanting to be distract from research mode. _They must be on to something, best not to bug um._ She looked to the kitchen, food it is then. Xander and Andrew were dishing up plates of pancakes to the potentials who got through the bathroom before the squabbling started. Buffy joined the line to get herself a plate then took a seat at the island. "So you know what the brains are so focusy on this morning?" She asked Xander then took a bit of her fresh food.

"They're double checking everything." Xander responded "Even called Westley earlier to clarify a few things, but they're pretty sure Willow can work it. Anya ran out a little bit ago to get the last few things they'll need."

"Great!" Buffy tried to say with a mouth full of pancake. She took a moment to swallow then asked with a good deal of hope "So we could avert the apocalypse today?"

"Maybe Buff." He smiled "To think tomorrow we may have our lives back." He handed the spatula over to Andrew and started to mix up more batter at the island.

"We had lives?"

"Well slight shells that may resemble lives. Either way it's so much easier to find a date when you're not fighting an apocalypse."

"True. So that mean you're gonna get back out there then?"

"Try to, I think I'm ready." He said trying to sound convincing "What about you Buff-mister, you wanna try finding that special someone again?"

She was tempted to spill the whole story. She used the mouthful of pancake to debate; but with potentials streaming in and out of the kitchen and Andrew so clearly eavesdropping. _Now is so not the time for that conversation, especially with Xander._ "Ehh, I'm pretty happy with where I'm at." She replied before shoving in the last forkful. Not a complete lie. Then stood to throw her paper plate and grabbed a bag of blood out of the fridge.

"Your LA excursion make you want a more liquid diet?" Xander kidded.

"No," she said as she grabbed a mug from the cupboard. "Figured it was worth waking Spike if were gonna stop the apocalypse soon." She placed the blood filled cup in the microwave, sealed the blood bag and put it back in the fridge.

"What really happened to him on your trip? He was all happy last night, it was weird."

"That's not really that weird for him, he just never acts that way around you guys." Xander shot her a puzzled look. "Cause you still treat him like a murderous monster." His confused face quickly changed to _duh_. "The soul ain't going anywhere Xand. He's not cursed like Angel, he fought for the soul, so he gets to keep it. He's here to help."

"Well you guys are done bon…" Xander stopped after he remembered his company then rephrased "being friendly, so that's not a worry anyway."

The microwave beeped, as Buffy grabbed the contents she simply said "Xander, he's an important part of the team. I told him to make an effort to get along with you and Willow, I'd appreciate it if you tried to get along with him."

"What about Dawn & Anya?"

"He already likes them, and they don't look down on him. You seem to hate him and Willow doesn't trust him." Buffy started to leave the kitchen then turned around "Just, try, for me?"

"If it matters that much to ya," He started, hoping she would stop him, but then conceded. "I'll try Buff, and maybe chat with Willow for ya too."

"Thanks." She smiled as she opened the basement door and headed down. When Buffy reached the bottom of the stairs the shirtless vampire was sound asleep, she set the mug on the shelf next to the bed then bent down to the same level as the cot, leaned in and softly kissed him. As she pulled away she noticed he was still out. She leaned in for another kiss, soft at first then got more intense until the vampire finally woke and returned the kiss. When he finally let her pull away she wiped her lips and greeted him. "Morning Spike."

"Morning? Why you waking me if it's still morning luv?"

"Cause it's almost time to save the world." She said proudly, Spike sat up and gave her a really? look, "Well, again anyway." Buffy joined him on the cot and handed over the mug o' blood "See I even brought breakfast."

"Thanks luv." His face shifted as he started to guzzle the warm sticky liquid.

"You know, that should really gross me out, but it doesn't."

"Not like ya've never seen it before."

"I know, I just mean, knowing that monster is inside of you, should freak me out a little."

"You've always needed a little monster in your man," he replied coyly as he playfully bared his teeth toward her, licking the blood off of them.

Buffy just rolled her eyes at the vampire, then thought for a moment as he finished of his meal, "Spike?" he took his attention off the now empty cup and looked to her "If you became human today, you think you'd miss the blood?"

 _Bullocks, does she know something about Wes coming?_ "Um, na, I don't think I would. I mean as human I'd get to eat anything else and actually taste it. Gives a bloke a few more options than human, swine, bovine, or rodent." She shrugged in response then Spike added "But I would hate to miss out on one thing as a vamp if I became human again."

"What's that?"

Spike leaned in toward her, and whispered in her ear "Tasting you."

"Spike!" appalled he even asked and shoved him away.

"I wouldn't hurt you luv, but I've been aching for it for 6 years, it's one of the few things I've wanted and haven't gotten in my long life."

"Well, life's full of disappointments, you should start having some." She held her hands up to cover her neck "Plus you've been on pigs blood for forever now, some of mine would just give you withdrawals. And I need you ready to fight."

"Come'on pet, you know you're curious." _My bite is bloody better than Angel's that's for sure!_ He wanted to add, but the last thing to bring up when he wanted her was Angel, even if she seems to be done with him. Instead he crept in close to her again, brushing his nose against her cheek, and down to her hand covered neck. Her hands has loosened around her neck a little, but Spike didn't stop there or try to pry her fingers away. He kept nuzzling his way down her body, then he pulled his head away and stepped off the cot to kneel on the floor before her. He slid a hand up her skirt, pulling the leather up as far as it would go, exposing one bare thigh. "I'm not a complete idiot luv, I wasn't thinking somewhere all your friends would see." He bent in toward her and kissed her just below where he legs met her center, then he looked up and morphed his face, "You gonna let me have a taste?"

Buffy's heart was pounding, she'd never admit it to him, but she had been curious about his bite for some time now. And now he was staring into her with those piercing eyes and practically begging at her feet. _And God, that'd be the perfect place I'd never have to explain it to anyone._ She loosed her hands from her neck, and caressed the bumps of his face. Then quietly succumbed "Just a taste." Spike smiled then turned his head back down to her skin, nuzzled his nose against her inner thigh for a moment then growled and bit into her flesh. Buffy's head rolled back in pain & delight, her legs stiffened as she pushed into the bite. Spike bit into her hard, but drank very little, just the feel of her in his mouth and the sweet taste of her blood was exhilarating. After a few minutes Spike reluctantly pulled his teeth out of her, then stood up, placed his hands on the wall on either side of Buffy's head and dove in to kiss her.

Buffy was still thunderstruck from the bite but her well aroused body was aching for more. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him in the kiss as she turned and laid down on the cot. After some shimmying Spike hiked her skirt all the way up, while Buffy managed to undo his pants, pulled out his cock and started stroking it. Spike pulled Buffy's panties to the side as he lowered his penis toward her hot wet center, lips still fused together Buffy guided his shaft into her, their lips broke for a moment as Buffy gasped and Spike growled in delight then his face changed back. Both of them were almost shocked in the fact they were entwined again, realizing the previous night wasn't some amazing dream. Spike started to slowly work into her, Buffy wanted to cry out with every thrust, but had to remind herself of where they were. Instead she pulled his now human face in to kiss her to keep them both quiet. After a few minutes Spike broke the kiss, pulled Buffy's legs up to stretch across his chest and drape past his shoulders, he thrust into her again, this time hitting the most sensitive part of her. With just a few more hard thrusts they both felt their blood surge and bit their lips to keep from screaming out. After a moment Buffy spread her legs and rested them on either side of her lover. "I don't know why I'm surprise at how well you can do that."

Spike smiled down at her "Well, we may not have had the best intensions for shagging last year, but we were bloody good at it." She returned the smile, as she continued to catch her breath. Then the exhausted slayer stretched her hand down to her thigh to feel where he had bit. "You alright luv?"

"Yeah, just, been a while since a vamp got to bite me." She pressed gently into one of the puncture "I'd forgotten how deep they are."

"I bit down pretty hard luv, but I didn't take much, just a taste like I promised."

"I know, the only woozy I'm feeling is post orgasm whoosh."

Spike laughed a little in return, then bent down to kiss her once more. Then they heard the familiar creek of the basement door. The couple quickly pulled apart, Buffy sat up, yanked her skirt back down while Spike plopped on the cot and stuffed his member back in his pants and sealed him in. Both sat as casually as they could as Dawn skimmed down the last few stairs. "Oh, hey Buffy, I didn't know you were up yet."

"Just got up a smidge ago, you were in deep research mode, didn't want to bug ya."

"Well with both Summers girls trying to wake me before noon, we must have somethin promising."

"Yup, we do, and Wes and Fred are on their way to help," Dawn grinned wildly at Spike, his eyes were wide, _Bloody hell, it's really gonna happen?!_ "They should be here soon."

"Wait, what? We need their help? And how they gonna be here soon it's a long drive."

"I called um for help on something earlier this morning and they offered to come help in person." Dawn explained, then added "Oh and they're taking a helicopter, little faster than a car."

"Oh, so time to pow-wow?" Buffy asked as she motioned to stand up.

"No, not just yet," Dawn supplied "I was just gonna wake Spike if he wasn't up yet, you two can have a bit more _time_ together." She winked at the couple then turned around.

"Dawn!?" Buffy scolded her sister.

"What?" she turned "Am I supposed to believe you two are a thing again and you haven't gotten thrusty?"

"Dawn!?" was all Buffy could utter again as her face started to turn red, then she turned to Spike who was giving a guilty grin to her kid sister and smacked him upside the head.

"Oi, what was that for luv?"

"You told my little sister everything!?"

Before Buffy could dig herself a bigger hole her sister interjected "Spike just told me you two were together again and how it happened, no sweaty details." Buffy stayed her second slap toward the vampire and stared at her sister "But am I wrong in assuming there have already been like two or three times of sweaty details already?" Buffy didn't answer, her face just turned darker while Spike leaned back and placed his arms behind his head. "And I'm guessing one of those times was this morning, cause it wreaks a little more than usual down here."

Spike breathed deep then shrugged and stood up on the cot to crack open the west facing window. "You're getting pretty good at the insightful-ness little bit." He complimented as he sat back down on the cot, then looked to Buffy and smiled. "Much to your sister's embarrassment." Buffy went to hit him again, but he intercepted her arm, grabbed the second and closed his arms around her, holding her in a restraining hug against him. "So you'll come fetch us when Wes arrives?" he asked Dawn, still staring at Buffy.

"Yup, or ya know you'll hear the helicopter." Dawn started up the stairs then before she left the basement she poked her head back down and asserted a quite but cheery "Have a good snog!"

Buffy was about to yell out her sister's name again, but Spike covered her mouth with his as the door creaked open and closed again. Then Spike broke the kiss to whisper "Sounds like we have some alone time before the apocalypse, let's use it wisely." Buffy gave in to the heated whisper and barrage of kisses. _Gotta try and get one more taste of her Spike demanded to himself Cause if it all goes right, I'll never need sodding blood again, and what better than a slayer as a last meal?_

* * *

Leaves blew in threw the basement window, landing on top of a naked Spike with his face nuzzled between Buffy's legs. The vampire ignored the leaves on his back, not wanting to be pulled away from lapping up her intoxicating blood. Buffy was only half-conscious herself, between the multiple orgasms and the sensation of Spike feeding off her she was pretty far gone. Then one of the leaves spun in and landed on Buffy's nose, after shaking her head to get it off she stepped back into reality, hearing the whirl of helicopter blades, and seeing the amount of leaves and other debris that had blown into the basement. _They're here_. "Spike." She stroked the top of his head then tried again a little louder "Spike." Still no intention to move from his feast, so she yanked him up by his hair. "Spike!"

"What pet?" annoyed he was ripped away from her.

"Helicopter." She let his head go and pointed up toward the yard.

Spike finally heard it, and realized the extra breeze in the room "Bullocks, just one last sip." He dove back down, gently bit into the wound again and took in one last gulp of blood. Then resumed his human face, and tenderly kissed his mark on her. Then he crawled up and laid beside her on the cot, stared into her eyes, and pronounced for the zillionth time "I love you."

"I love you too Spike." She replied for maybe the tenth time. "But we gotta get dressed and get upstairs, like now, before someone other than Dawn comes to get us."

"Right." He looked up to the shelf seeing some gauze, he reached up grabbed it and wrapped her wound. Then leaned over and kissed her hard one more time, and upon releasing her, he sat up and looked for his pants.

"That was mean." She kidded "And thanks." She said more sincerely gesturing to the gauze. She grabbed her skirt off the ground and stood to slide it on. Then she pulled her hair out of its barely recognizable ponytail, and retied it neatly. By the time she was putting her coat back on, Spike was fully dressed and grabbing his coat off the chair it was draped over.

After he threw it on he walked over to her by the stairs "Slayer," she looked level at him from the landing of the stairs "Can ya try not to get yourself killed to save everyone this time?" She rolled her eyes in response. "Not so sure I'd take it so well as last time if ya died on me again."

"Dawn said you fell apart when I died?"

"Bloody right." His face became downcast, both of them knew that with every apocalypse there's a good chance people die. Then Spike noticed the lack of noise from outside, the helicopter was either off or gone, either way it was time for them to get upstairs. Before ushering her up he raised a hand and rested it against her cheek. "I'm a lucky bloke, you were worth the 100 plus year wait." Buffy smiled, but before she could respond the door creaked open and Spike recoiled his hand. Xander opened the door and was about to call down when he saw the pair were already on the stairs.

"Ya noticed we got company?" he asked as they climbed the stairs.

"Helicopter in the back yard was hard to miss," Buffy replied as she reached the top.

"Yeah they ain't great with the stealthy entrances, I'm surprised Angel would even have one." Xander commented as he led them to the dining room where everyone minus potentials were waiting. Everyone including: Willow, Kennedy, Dawn, Anya, Andrew, Principle Wood, Westley, Fred, and…

"Angel?!" Buffy questioned shocked to see him.

"Bloody hell!" Spike echoed, rather angry even, "What's this ponce doing here?" he asked walking past Buffy and across the room to where Westley, Fred, and Angel were standing.

Before Fred could answer Angel explained "They insisted they needed the helicopter 'cause it was urgent, I insisted if it was urgent you could use my help."

Spike was directly in front of Angel, clearly looking to throw him out, _No sodding way is he gonna be a part of the vampire made slayer spell, did Fred & Wes spill, is that why he's really here?_ _Or is he just looking to be the hero of the day for Buffy?_ "Sorry mate, but I think we've hit our champion allowance for this apocalypse, try again next time."

"You mean one? Buffy's the only Champion besides me in this room, cause last time I checked you haven't saved the world yet."

"I helped beat off Glory, and helped all the solider boys not get killed by demons."

"You helped Adam get us in that mess Spike?" Xander chimed in, stepping forward.

"Oh stuff it Harris." Spike snapped.

Angel raised a hand and started to count off. "I've helped with taking out the Master."

"Again, I saved Buffy, and Buffy actually fought the Master…" Spike & Angel both glared at him, Xander raised his hands in defense and backed out of the vampire feud.

Then Angel continued, "the Mayor, Jasmine…"

"Do those really count as saving the world?"

"I stopped Acathla, that saved the world."

"Buffy ran you though with a sword!" Spike claimed as he pointed to Buffy, then pointed to himself "I helped her, that one counts as mine!"

"Damit Spike!" Buffy growled as she grabbed him and threw him out of arm or fist reach of Angel "I thought you were done with this vampire pissing contest."

"The bloody sod doesn't need to be here."

"Spike, he's here, deal. Besides, the more fighters we have the less likely people are gonna get killed." Buffy reasoned, talking to the whole group but trying to connect the idea to Spike, then drove the point home with something she knew would get him to shut up, if even at the cost of hurting him. "If Angel were here to help 2 years ago, maybe I wouldn't have had to jump."

Spike's heart sank, he hated being reminded that he didn't or couldn't save her. He wanted to just storm out, but A it was rather sunny out, and B there were more important things at hand. Buffy could tell that the comment hurt him more then she intended, she wanted to apologized and hug him, but now was definitely not the time to come forward about everything, the long silence was becoming odd enough.

Angel's voice broke the silence "I'm not here to win Buffy back. I'm just here to help." Spike quickly changed his look of hurt to loathing and glared at his rival but didn't say another word. Buffy's eyes widened a bit at the statement, but no one else seemed to notice his choice of words so she wasn't about to explain him.

With the immediate threat of a vampire brawl gone, Dawn chimed in "So, all in favor of kicking some FIRST butt?" she asked raising her hand to relieve the tension. Anya & Andrew shot up their hands in excitement, while everyone else did, but were a bit less enthused. "Great, so with some help from Wolfram & Hart's resources, we have everything we need to channel the energy of the sun through the Lapedium Solis amulet therefore wiping out a ton of vampires at once. Also through the help of Andrew we know how to re-open the seal so we can enter the hell mouth and kill the Turok-Han where they live. So then hopefully wiping out the FIRST's entire army in one magic swoop. But to be safe we are gonna have all our fighters go down too, to kill any uber-vamps that may miss out on the spell."

"What about Spike & me?" Angel asked "Wouldn't us going down to help just get us fried by the spell?"

"That's why you two would hang back until the spell was done." She supplied "So as far as who's going down Buffy obviously, the potentials, Xander, Anya, Andrew, and principle Wood. Xander, Anya, Andrew, Kennedy, & Wood will each have 6 potentials under your command. We've commandeered 6 flamethrowers from our local army base. So each group will have one of those, and other weapons of choice, but every single fighter should have a steak on them. The Turok-Hans are hard to steak, but it is possible. The fighters' main job will be to protect Willow & Westley until they're done working the spell. Fred & I will attend to them if the spell wipes them out. So when we come up after the spell is done, that'll be your guys' cue to go help." She motioned to the vampires "But, one major thing we'll need to do before we start the spell is open a hole to the seal. The spell will only work if we have a direct line of sunlight. So we have to make a hole from the roof down to the basement, which last we looked lined up with your office principle Wood."

"I was looking to redecorate anyway." He replied cooly.

"Any questions?" Dawn asked looking around the room.

With no one asking Buffy felt compelled to say "First you become miss insightful, and now you sound more in charge than me. When did you grow up?" the group chuckled a little at the comment, even Spike.

"Hey, I've been trying to tell you, but you gotta learn everything the hard way when we have impending doom and all. Same thing happened last year when I was trying to get you to teach me to fight. Only after Willow tried to kill us with root monsters did you let me fight."

"Hey," Willow whimpered in her defense.

"Sorry Wil, but the last apocalypse was on you." Buffy reminded, Willow shrugged in response not really able to argue that point "But we kinda need your magic to get through this one so it'll be a wash." She kidded. The two friends smiled, then Dawn jumped back in charge.

"Alright then, Xander, Buffy, Wood, Andrew, Angel, and a handful of potentials will go to the school to make our hole. Xander's got it all worked out so follow his lead on that. Kennedy, I want you to train in the potentials who stay on the flamethrower. Everyone else we're gonna go through the motions of the spell for practice while we wait for the school to be ready. Xander you take the cars over, principle Wood, come back and get the rest of us with a school bus when you guys are ready."

"Great, well we'll get going then. What potentials you want me to nab?" Xander asked Dawn.

"I think Rona & Amy have already had some flamethrower experience. And you should take Amanda since she knows the school pretty good, and Violet's pretty strong. That should be a good group to take."

"Fine and dandy with me, I'll send the rest to the backyard for flamethrower training." Kennedy nodded to the comment and went to grab one from the shed to work it in the backyard. Then those who were assigned to school demolition made their way out.

"Oi, Dawn." Spike motioned her over to him and asked quietly "Shouldn't I be goin with that lot? Helping move rubble and whatnot?"

Dawn smiled "Nope, I need your help here Spike." She said confidently in case anyone heard him, then she whispered in his ear "Can't really do the first spell without ch'ya."


	16. Chapter 16: Into Every Generation

Chapter 16 – Into Every Generation

"I still don't think this is gonna work." Anya repeated after Westley had discussed the spell with her, Willow, Dawn, Fred, & Spike. "In my 1,100 years I've never heard of it."

"Doesn't mean it can't be done Anya." Dawn recapped as she grabbed the last chair to clear it from the dining room.

"And we do tend to do a lot of stuff that's never been done before." Willow added.

"Before me and the ponce, you ever heard of a vampire with a bloody soul?" Spike asked as he grabbed one end of the table and Westley grabbed the other and shimmied it out of the room.

"I suppose not," She conceded to the vampire. "So what can I do to help with our current impossible task?"

"Just stay back, everyone but Willow, Spike & I should be in this room." Westley instructed as he re-entered "I don't want Spike's demon going back into anyone but him."

"You really think Spike's true demon will make him strong enough?" Dawn asked "I mean we don't know what kind, or how many demons were funneled into that box Buffy saw."

"I trust his 100 plus year old demon will be sufficient Dawn."

"I mean right now he's only like half demon, being how vampires are, and he's almost as strong as Buffy. I'd wager when he fuses with his demon 100% he'll be twice as strong." Fred theorized triumphantly, then looked around the room at a mix of faces and added "Well that's my theory anyway."

Spike glanced over to Wes who to him had a clear 'God she's amazing' look he knew all too well. _Gotta chat with Fred before they leave, it's the least I could do for um if this spell really works._ "So we ready mate?"

"I believe so. Ladies if you would please exit to the kitchen or the foyer." Dawn & Fred walked to the entryway to watch while Anya went to stand in the kitchen doorway. "Spike if you would stand at the far corner of the room." He nodded as he walked to the front corner between the curtained windows and the hutch. "Ready Willow?"

"Let's do it." Was her simple reply as she grabbed the box off the floor and prepared to catch Spike's demon. Westley walked over to Spike who held his palm forward, Westley carved into his hand with a knife, making a deep cut, Spike barley flinched. Then Westley sheathed the knife and pulled out a vile of the bright green mora blood, opened it and poured it into Spike's hand. He closed his hand around the blood feeling it start to work in him, he braced himself against the wall. He opened his hand to find the cut and the blood were gone then a grey light lifted from him, and directed itself toward the box Willow held. Once it was inside Willow closed and locked the box.

Spike was still staring at his hand then he slowly lifted it to his throat, pressing two fingers against it. "There it is!" he smiled "I've got a bloody pulse!" Everyone was excited and some more surprised than others that it really worked.

Fred leaned over to dawn and quietly mentioned "A bit smaller reaction than Harmony."

They both giggled at the comment, then Dawn replied "I'd be worried if he had a bigger reaction than her." The both giggled again, but inside the room they were very serious as they started the next spell.

"That was the easy part." Westley reminded as he directed his attention to the box, taking it from Willow and handing her the still bloody knife, so she could perform the preparations.

She took a deep breath then after a moment she began to slice hellebore petals with the bloody knife and let the pieces fall on the box and recited "Demon with-in, return to your purest form, with this offering find your true nature." The box started to glow softly then Willow commanded "Fortis daemon, reditus!" it shook for a moment, then the petals faded into it and the glow were gone. Then the pair turned to the now human Spike. Willow started to recite the shadow men's spell in the original Swahili, as Westley repeated in English to accentuate the spell's power:

"Sisi mnyororo yake duniani"

"We chain _him_ to the earth." Willows hands began to glow with an amber light, she raised them, palms up, and pointed to Spike.

"Na kutumika kama beki kwa wanadamu wote."

"To serve as a protector for all mankind." Westley unlocked the box.

"Katika kila kizazi mwenye kuua mtu amezaliwa,"

"Into every generation a slayer is born," he bagan to open it, letting the demon out, it was now a black thick substance and clearly larger than before. It seemed to look around just as Buffy had described from her experience with the shadow men.

"Msichana mmoja & mtu mmoja katika ulimwengu wote, wateule,"

"One girl & one man in all the world, the chosen ones." The demon swereled aroung the room for a moment, then seemed to realize where Willow was pointing and headed for Spike.

"Wao peke kutazaa nguvu na ujuzi kupambana suckers damu, mapepo na nguvu za giza,"

"They alone will wield the power and skill to fight the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness," At that the demon entered Spike through his mouth, jostling him about the corner of the room.

"Kuzuia kuenea kwa maovu na jazwa ya idadi yao"

"prevent the spread of evil and the swell of their numbers." Spike managed to stop the demon from throwing him about and stood firm, taking a deep breath, he surpressed the demon within him.

"Wao ni mwenye kuua mtu."

"They are the slayer."

Willow lowered her hands and the glow faded, after a moment she walked over to Spike. She placed a hand against his chest, she clearly felt a heartbeat but more importantly, she did not feel the demon knocking about. She brought her other hand to her mouth and whispered "rete." Her hand started to glow a light blue as she raised it a couple inches infront of Spike's mouth. "Open up Spike." He did as he was told and opened his mouth, to everyones releif, nothing came out for Willow to try and catch. After holding for a minute to be sure Willow pulled her hand away and released the concentration of the spell, returning her hand to normal. "What do ya say Wes? Ya think we got ourselves another slayer?" she asked excitedly.

Westley set the box down and walked over to the window, and threw the shades open. Spike flinched and went to throw his coat up out of habbit, but then stopped and thought for a moment, then let the sun hit him. It felt so warm, but he didn't so much as sizzle. He smiled, then spun around to the buffet that had a mirror sitting on top, seeing his own refection for the first time in over 100 years.

Anya was the first to intrupt the moment of course "Great you're human, but are you stronger or weaker now?"

Spike thought for a moment then a wicked grin covered his face as he headed out the front door, everyone followed him curiously. He knew the neighbors to the left had already vamoosed from town, and there was a pretty hefty oak tree in their front yard. He walked up to it, and motioned the rest to hold back. "This is either gonna be bloody brillitant... or hurt... alot..."

"So eitherway it should be fun for us?" Dawn joshed.

He smiled at his favorite little sister, then he looked back to his target, wound up and sent a round-house kick at the trunk. A lound crack echoed down the street, almost like thunder. The 40 foot tree began to teater, then a strong gust of wind at the wrong moment altered it to fall toawrd the group. Confident in his new strength Spike ran toward them caught the center of the tree and bounced it to the left toward the road and clear of the group.

After a moment of relief for not getting squished Fred inquired. "Is that alot stronger than you were before?"

"Hell of alot stronger pet!" he boasted "You were right, at least bloody double." He smiled and stared up to the sky, basking in the sunlight.

Dawn couldn't contain herself any longer, she ran over to the ex-vampire and hugged him, so excited for him and her sister. "I'll give you like a ba-jillion dollers if I can be the one to tell Buffy!"

"Hell no little bit, that honor is all mine." She released the hug and pouted "But I'm sure you'll catch the show." She swapped her pout for a smile and hugged him again. After she released him he walked over to Westley and Fred "Thanks for everything mates, honestly."

"Oh, it was nothing. It was kind of a fun challenge actually. Always an interesting experiment when you have to think outside the box, and I'm still learning the rules of magic and stuff, and even then it seems like they don't always abide by the rules. Not like physics, but then again physics is always comming up with new rules that trump the old ones and... " Westley placed ahand on her shoulder, she looked up at him then back to Spike "I mean, I'm glad we could help."

"You're welcome." Westley added "So now that your human again, you going to go by your human name, William?"

Spike gave him a dumb look "Don't think so mate." Westley chuckled a little then Spike stepped over to Willow, tried to start once, then stopped unsure of what to say.

"Ya know if you hurt her I'll kill you, super-pumped slayer strength or no." Willow stated bluntly.

"Then why isn't Angel all dusty?"

"Cause he was evil when he hurt her, and I wasn't all wichy and powerful... like now."

"Right, well thanks for trusting me Red." She smiled back at him, the conversation she had with her friend the night before now took on a whole new meaning, most of her points against their relationship were now kaput... _So now I should support this beyond weird relationship... right?_

* * *

"Fire in the hole!" Xander shouted for the 5th time that morning. An explosion erupted from the building, then after the smoke cleared the crew reentered the school through Wood's office window and reset the ladders to climb down to the seal that had a fresh layer of rubble on it. "That should be the last one we need." Xander commented to Buffy as he surveyed the damage from the dynamite. "Now just gotta clean up our mess so we don't trip on it on our way out."

"Great, I'm gonna go see how Angel, Wood, & Rona are doing barricading the basement." Buffy replied as she headed for the basement stairs. Once down she maneuvered her way through to the hall outside the seal where the three of them were stacking shelves, desks and any other items in the basement to board up the door and walls. "Doesn't look like you left me anything to do?"

"Hello Buffy," Wood replied "Yeah, we've got just about everything we could find reinforcing that they stay in that room or up the ladders."

"Will it hold?" Buffy asked directing her question to Angel.

"It should." He replied "So Spike and I waiting here to see if they bust through or up in the office?"

"Well if you say this is secure, I would think there's no point in wasting either of you down here. Wood? There's enough shade in the office area to have Angel & Spike fight there right?"

"It should be sufficient not to roast them." he concurred.

"Okay, we'll plan on that then. Rona you wanna head upstairs and help with the last bit of rubble? And Wood, you could probably head back and get everyone else." They nodded and headed for the stairs.

"You worried?" Angel asked.

"What? No. I mean, not really. Just seems pretty different than our last few apocalypses."

"I don't know, reminds me a lot of our last apocalypse together, the Mayor. We're damaging school property, we're breaking out the flamethrowers again, and everybody we know is fighting, some of which who aren't ready yet."

"I suppose." She surmised as she sat on a teacher's desk at the edge of the barricade "You think I should leave the potentials out of this?"

"I just think you'll need a plan B if the sunshine spell doesn't work and you're stuck in a hole with an army of Turok-Han."

"Oh."

"Yup." Angel joined her on the desk "Don't you wish running was an option, just once?"

Buffy chuckled, then reminded him "Yeah, but I ended up dying in both apocalypses where I tried to run first. That kind of consistency tells me running is a bad idea." Angel had a confused look on his face. "I tried to quit before I faced the Master, and I tried running from Glory."

"Oh. Well then no more running, cause I want you to have a long happy life."

"That's the plan."

He paused for a moment then made one last push "So you really think Spike is gonna be the one to give you that?"

Thrown by the sudden change of topic, but not overall surprised "As hard as it is to see, he really does make me happy Angel." _In more ways than one_ she wanted to add, but decided better of it. "I don't really know how long it'll last, but for now it feels right. He really has been a great ally." She paused to chuckle to herself "Ya know when he saw I was back last fall, it took him about 3 seconds to realize I wasn't the buffy-bot they'd been working with all summer, and his face just lit up. Then he saw my hands were hurt from punching out of the coffin and became so concerned; he was going to help me clean it up but my friends came back and of course he left. Then later I stopped by his crypt and his hands were hurt like mine. He was trying to relate to my pain the best he could, so he could help me through it." She looked to Angel, but only received a blank stare. "The thing is, I'm still not sure how, but he was the one who really helped me work through being pulled outta heaven."

"So he's actually sensitive, that's the big draw? And why was William the Bloody able to help you so much more than Willow, Xander, or Dawn?"

"I think cause he never treated me any different. I was still me, ya know? Anyway, that's probably why he was the first one I told where I really was."

Perturbed by her natural level of comfort and trust with his rival he pushed for another nagging question. "So you see fat grandchildren in the offing with Spike?"

"I highly doubt it, for one vampire, can't have kids. And I got a good talking to from Willow about him last night after I told her about LA and she doesn't really approve either." Angel's face almost turned hopeful at Willow's disapproval, then Buffy added "Plus I'm kinda thinkin' I'll die before I grow to resent him for his youth."

"Buffy…"

"I'm kidding… ya know, mostly."

"Buffy, what are you trying so hard to convince me of?"

"That Spike really is good, and I'm better off with him in my life."

"Okay, so why you trying to convince me, or Willow, or anyone?" now Buffy had the confused look "Look, I'm not sure you could come up with anything to say to convince me that Spike's the better man for you." Buffy looked down. "But I know you'll always be safe with him around, and he does make you happy, even if I don't really understand why… So maybe that's enough."

"Thanks Angel," Buffy turned toward the barricaded room, "Seems to have quieted down, they must almost be done."

"Yeah, the rest of the gang and your new boyfriend will be here before you know it." Buffy simply rolled her eyes at the comment as she made her way to the stairs with Angel following.


	17. Chapter 17: Slayers

Chapter 17 – Slayers

"We got everybody?" Wood hollered out from the front of the bus. Dawn nodded, having just done her head count on the 30-some potentials filling most of the bus. Willow, Westley, Anya, Fred, Spike, & Dawn filled the first couple rows. "By the way, I could swear there wasn't a tree blocking half the street this morning? I could barely get around it in the bus." Wood asked as he shut the front door of the bus.

Willow replied "Oh, we were just trying out a spell and the neighbors oak became collateral damage." He accepted the explanation and started up the school bus.

Dawn had fashioned a tent covering a few seats to block the sunlight for their vampire companions, Spike of course sat there as to not blow his secrete early, and Fred, Dawn, & Anya joined him under the drapery for the ride. "This turned out so cool!" Dawn elated at her handiwork.

"Looks good little bit, should keep your boss from fryin'." Spike directed to Fred.

"Yes, it should suffice for Angel, but I gotta say I agree with Dawn, it's like a little fort, I used to love making forts out of all kinds of stuff when I was little."

"Well I've never made a fort, so I wouldn't know." Anya supplied.

"Tell ya what Anya, we survive this apocalypse, I'll show you how to make a fort and why they're so fun." Dawn responded "For now we just have to enjoy the ride and ask Fred why her and Westley aren't a thing?"

Spike looked over to Dawn, actually impressed she got to the question first. He should have known Dawn noticed their connection like he did. While Spike was swelling with pride for his almost-little sister, Fred's face was turning red, but she managed to mutter out a "How do you mean?"

"Oh come on." Dawn started "You two are so cute together. You're both super smart and eager to learn, especially from each other. And he's gotten a heck of a lot less namby-pamby since his time in Sunnydale. And he's clearly in love with you."

"Westley and I are just friends, work companions, soldiers in the fight against evil." Fred tried to explain "Why are you so sure he's in love with me?"

"Cause when you talk, or he looks at you, or someone's talking about you, he has the same look plastered on his face as Spike does when the topic is Buffy." Dawn surmised. Fred wasn't too confident on the look, not having paid that close of attention to Spike in the short time she knew him.

"He's in awe of you luv." Spike reiterated "Have you two never jawed about this?"

Still a bit embarrassed by the subject matter, but Fred felt she needed to reveal a bit of their history "Well, I met Angel and everyone when they rescued me from another dimension. And once I started to become apart of the world again, I fell in love with another person on the team, Charles Gunn. So we started dating and somewhere amongst all that we kinda had a falling out with Westley, he made some bad calls that really upset Angel, almost got Cordy and me killed. So he kinda left for a while after that. I'm not sure exactly what happened to him, but he seemed to get meaner, so much so that at one point when we needed him to help us on something he stole a pretty aggressive kiss from me while I was still dating Charles."

"So are you and this Charley still together?" Spike asked.

"Oh, no. We broke up last year. Not because of the thing with Westley, but I mean that didn't help. And it honestly scared me a little, I'd never seen that side of him."

"So that's why you haven't let him in?" Dawn prodded "You still feel he and you are partially responsible for how your last relationship ended?"

"I don't think so, Charles and I were drifting apart before that happened. We would have broken up either way. It's just we all still work together and I'm not sure it'd be best to get involved with another person I work with. Especially when the two guys are just recently friends again. I don't wanna make things worse for the two of them."

"So what I'm hearing is you like him, but don't want to be the cause of screwing up friendship again & you're afraid of him getting mean?" Anya reiterated in her blunt fashion.

"I never said I like him." Fred tried to protest.

"You never said you didn't either. And you've given reasoning beyond pondering if you should get involved with him or not." Anya pointed out. Fred wasn't quite sure how to respond.

"Are you and Charles still on good terms?" Dawn asked, Fred looked to her and replied with a nod "Then I would try talking to him, settle any issue that may be left on the table, and ask if it'd be okay to move on with Wes. Not that you need his permission, but I'm sure he'd appreciate the heads up if you're all gonna be working together."

Spike nodded in agreement with Dawn's advice "And as far as the mean streak goes, has he done anything to scare you since he came back to the group?"

"No, he's been his usual kind self, just maybe a bit more commanding with decisions. But not mean."

"I would trust he's past that dark point. I can't see him hurting you for a moment." Spike encouraged "We've all done things we wish we could take back, sometimes to the ones we love most…" he glanced over to Dawn, recollecting in their mind his lowest point with Buffy, where he got meaner than he thought he ever would… "If you love each other you'll be able to move past it and be happy pet."

"That was super sappy to hear from you Spike?" Fred questioned.

"Not really," Dawn interjected "He was a poet when he was a human, the first time anyway."

"Dawn!?" a little angry she just blurted that fact out.

"That does make sense," Anya agreed "You're not nearly as bluntly evil and dumb as other vampires. Plus when you're sad or serious you talk differently, poetically I guess."

"Oh, well I guess I haven't known you as long as these two." Fred peeled back the curtain of their fort just enough to look over at Westley who was in a serious discussion with Willow. She let the curtain fall and turned back to the group. "Okay, so say I do think I like him, and I think we'd make each other better, and happy and whatnot. How do I even have that conversation with him?"

"I'm gonna have to encourage Buffy's method on that." Spike proposed "Kiss first, talk later." Dawn let her head fall to her hands while Anya rolled her eyes at the statement that was blunt even for her. "Not in a nasty way." Spike explained "Look Buffy doesn't like to talk about things much, especially more serious stuff, so when she came out to say she loves me she led with a kiss and slipped it in." Anya's eyes got wide "Shit…"

"She admitted it with words from her mouth?" Anya asked aghast. "When did this happen and why was I not informed?" She continued questioning as she looked to Dawn for an agreed upset, but saw she was fairly calm "Why aren't you bugging out Dawn? I would think this is a topic you care a great deal about."

"I already knew, Spike told me last night. Believe me I'm still giddy about it, but yeah I already knew."

"And the little bit was the only one I was allowed to tell, Buffy was gonna wait to tell everyone else after the apocalypse… So please pretend it's new news when she brings it up."

"I can try, but I'm really bad at lying."

"Thanks luv."

"So do we get to hear the full story now or…" before Fred could finish the school bus popped over a speed bump, Dawn peeked through the curtain out the window to confirm what she thought, they had arrived at school. Then Fred finished "I guess it'll have to wait till later."

"Am I sending Buffy out or are you sneaking in?" Dawn asked clearly getting giddy at the thought of seeing her sister's reaction. "You wanted to surprise her before everything right?"

"Well I don't think it'd be good to have her notice in the middle of battle. That'd just be distracting and possibly get her killed." Anya supplied. "Then again before may be just as distracting…"

"What ya think I should wait till after?" Anya replied with an unknowing shrug "Then again we're not sure what after is gonna be like, may not be best to reveal it then either." Spike was confusing himself as they popped over the second set of speed bumps. "Ughh, I'll make an entrance at some point. Let her get her pre-battle speech outta the way first." 2 of the girls giggled at the trueness of his comment. Granted some were shorter than others, but Buffy always gave a speech before a big battle, apocalyptic or not.

The bus slowed to a stop in front of the buildings main entrance, everybody (except Angel) was out front sitting on the stairs up to the main doors, After Willow and Westley stood first the potentials started to stream out of the bus. Anya, Fred, and Wood followed the girls off next. Leaving only Dawn and Spike left on the bus under the draping. "I'll let her know to get started. And that you'll make your 'mad dash' after she and I explain everything."

"Thanks little bit." With that she stood up and exited the bus. Spike watched through a pulled open gap in the sheeting, as Dawn walked over and hugged her sister. Spike's hearing wasn't quite as good as it was, but he could still hear a bit better than a normal human. He sat patiently, listening and watching for his moment.

"Well there's really not much that hasn't been said." Buffy started addressing her army "I do wanna thank everyone, especially our new/old buddies at Wolfram & Hart." She nodded to Wes and Fred standing by Dawn to her right. "I've never had so much trained help in an apocalypse." Xander and Willow chuckled from the crowed on her right. "This won't be a battle where we eliminate evil from this world, good and evil will always exist. But the FIRST wanted to pick this fight with us, with the slayers; and we will not go quietly, cause there is only one thing on this earth more powerful than evil, and that's us! So today we bring the fight to them, we're done playing their game, and waiting for the end to come so we can fight on their terms. They want an apocalypse so bad… well let's give um one!"

The crowd started to cheer to her words then fell silent. _That was a weird cheer…_ Buffy thought then saw mouths began to gape open. Buffy leaned to Dawn confused "What's with the looks, I thought it was a good speech."

Dawn had a huge smile on her face, and laughed a little as she said "Um, I think someone just stole your thunder." She nodded her head to cue Buffy to turn around. She slowly did to see Spike standing no more than 2 feet from her. _What is he…? In full daylight, no blanket, and not on fire…?_

"Bloody right Slayer." He smirked and reached down to grab her hand and placed it on his chest. Her eyes grew wide realizing what she was feeling. "You think this fight could use another slayer?"

Still feeling his heartbeat, Buffy only managed to mutter "How?"

Spike placed a hand softly on her cheek, "Magic." She leaned into the hand, _It's warm… he's really human? But he said Slayer? Does that mean what I think… is he still strong?_ Buffy didn't have a clue what to say, so Spike simply pulled her against him, holding her tight. Attempting to reassure her that it was okay. "Wes & Fred found a way to make it work, then Wes & Red worked the mojo."

Buffy pulled away from the hug and looked behind her where the culprits were standing. Fred was smiling wildly, where as Westley was being a bit more stoic, and Willow approached her friend, and asked cautiously. "This is what you wanted isn't it?"

Buffy looked to her friend and back to Spike, then back to Willow. "This is real?" Willow just smiled "Well real, I guess, heartbeat, permanent?" She searched for answers from the red-head who knew exactly what the half statements meant.

"Made him human, than used the rituals the Shadow Men used to make the first slayer." Willow supplied, "Which may have, unintentionally, made him stronger than you…" She was about to explain further until Spike interrupted.

"Buffy," She turned to her now human boyfriend, and Willow backed away. "You alright Slayer?" Buffy slowly smiled, feeling it all start to sink in. _"Once he starts something he won't stop till it's done."_ She remembered Angel telling her about Spike after he first crossed her path. _Well he wasn't wrong, Spike did exactly what he said he'd do… for me… for us… so… my turn._ Buffy raised a hand to the back of his neck and pulled herself up to his lips.

 _What is she doing?_ Spike thought to himself. _She remember her mates are looking on? Should I care?_

Xander started toward them, but was stopped by Dawn, who was shaking her head at him. He quietly asked her "What the hell is going on? Why are those two locking lips?!" Dawn simply stared at him in response, giving him the same look Spike was famous for. "Really?! Since when?"

"L.A." Dawn smiled. "Didn't think she was gonna say anything till after the apocalypse though."

Finally Buffy pulled away from the kiss, smiled to Spike and grabbed his hand as she turned around to face her friends. Not really sure how to explain, but she knew one thing she had to say. "Thank you."

Willow, Westley, and Fred smiled and nodded in response. Dawn was done restraining herself and ran up to hug the pair, squealing as she did. Buffy laughed at her sisters' response, whereas Spike simply embraced the hug.

"Um," Xander interrupted, the hug pulled apart and faced him. "Not that I hate interrupting something that is making my head spin and my stomach uneasy, but we do have a slight apocalypse scheduled."

"Right." Buffy responded, then looked to Dawn "You wanna assign the groups?" she nodded in response and went to address the chattering girls on the steps. Then Buffy looked to Willow "And why don't you guys start setting up."

"Can do." Willow replied and gestured for Fred and Wes to follow her into the office. After they started to unpack their bags Willow saw Angel standing in the shaded doorway.

"He's a slayer now?"

"Um, yeah." Willow replied walking over to him "Wes and Fred did all the research, I just helped with the spell part after you all left for the school."

"That's why you two needed to come here?" Angel asked directing his question to his friends.

"Initially yes, but they can clearly use our help in this fight." Wes replied, then he and Willow started to unload their bag to set up for the spell.

"And the whole thing with the Mora demon the other day, was a test for Spike?" Wes nodded "How did you make him a slayer? You found the ritual Buffy saw?" He stared down Fred, who he knew would give him the full story.

"Yeah," Fred started "I mean it all made sense that it should work for Spike being that he won is soul and wasn't gonna turn into some kind of sociopath if he became human. So first we made him mortal with the Mora blood mixing with his, so then when we did that his demon spirit escaped his body so we caught it in a box then perform some rituals with Spike's blood and hellebore petals. Then when that was all prepared Wes & Willow recited the Slayers creed and let Spike's demon out, it was all black-ish and creepy looking. Then woosh it dove into Spike and after fighting it for a minute it settled in him, and just to be safe Willow did this cool net spell with her hand to make sure the demon was staying put. Then we went outside to see how strong Spike was and he kicked over a tree, and it almost hit us cause of a weird wind gust, but Spike became so strong he was able to bench the tree away from us all. And I would have guessed that would have been around a ton or two, and it was falling at maybe 6.7 meters per second…"

"Fred." Angel interrupted, assuming the bulk of the information was conveyed in Fred's over eccentric manor. "Thanks for the, I'm sure summed up, play by play, but why help him?"

"He asked." Fred replied sheepishly. "And you've said so many times before that you accepted your lot in life as a champion and all, and as a vampire you are immortal, a bit more durable then a slayer…"

Angel put up a hand to cease another long explanation, and leaned against the desk beside him in the corner of the room. Wes had stood up and gestured for Fred to come over to help Willow. "You did catch the part about why it wouldn't work so well for you right?" he asked Angel softly.

"Yeah, I can't help being a monster without my soul, but the remarkable Spike can." Wes shrugged in response, it was the harsh way to think about it, but the truth more or less. Wes simply sat next to the vampire, knowing there were more questions come. "Why'd it have to be Spike…?"

"I would think you appreciate it being him instead of happening to some random vampire." Angel gave him an almost disgusted look. "Or not… Angel you do realize with our new resources we could look into a similar arrangement for you, just not the exact arrangement." The comment didn't seem to help, then Westley tried another approach. "How is it that you knew what the Mora was and what it's blood would do?"

Angel finally looked up and explained "Back when it was just Cordelia, Doyle and me, I had a run in with a Mora demon, when Buffy was visiting nonetheless. It's blood ended up mixing with mine, and I became human."

"And you chose to undo this? How?"

"Buffy & I were together, but I was weak, I couldn't fight with her, she almost got killed trying to protect me. So I visited the oracles and asked them to let me go back and change the past, so I could remain a champion. Killed the Mora before our blood could mix again, and Buffy never knew it happened."

"You were really together weren't you?" Angel just nodded "You still regret going to the oracles?"

"Usually not, but after today… I've never regretted it more."

"It's not easy to see someone you love with another. Even if you think you've moved on." Wes advised, looking across the room to Fred and Willow. Angel clearly saw his glanced and asked quietly.

"Knox?" Wes averted his attention back to Angel, and nodded. Angel leaned in a little and noted "I don't think that's gonna work, plus he may be evil anyway."

Wes grinned at the notion, then saw Willow walking over to them. "Well I think we're all set."

* * *

All the potentials were gathered in a circle around the seal of Danzalthar, a knife was being passed around for all to make a small cut along their arms to bleed onto the seal. After a few minutes it began to glow and sectioned itself open. Everyone pulled out a strip of gauze wrapped it around their cut and followed Buffy and Spike down the hole. The cavern was just as Buffy had seen in her vision, she was almost afraid to walk to the edge to confirm there were Turok-Han. Once she saw the magic crew had made their way down Buffy crept quietly to the edge and glanced down. _Yup… Army o nasty vamps, check._

She backed out of view and nodded to Willow. The witch took a deep breath and started the spell, raising a hand holding the Lapedium Solis amulet, soon it started to float in her hand, but just as the spell seemed to start, the Turok-Han must have noticed their visitors and came charging up the cavern walls. Those with flame throwers stood at the ready and fired as the first uber-vamp crawled over the edge. The flames kept most of them at bay, but the few that leapt over them were ambushed by fighters. With their strength in numbers the humans were holding their own, by either pinning one down and staking it, or throwing it to the flames. One that was thown back toward the fire regained its footing just before the flames then turned to see Buffy fighting off another, and charged up to her from behind. But just as it was about to claw her down, Spike intercepted the beast by grabbing it's head and twisting it clean off and into dust. Buffy had just dusted the vamp that was in front of her and noticed the poof of dust behind her, and gave Spike a quick 'thank you' smile, before going after another that broke the fire line. Then one of the flamethrowers started to putter out, making a hole in the wall that was quickly taken advantage of by first killing the potential that was wielding the broken device. Buffy and Spike rushed over to cover the gap in their lines, fighting side by side, practically in sync as they whaled on their own opponents.

Then all of a sudden a beam of light shot out between the pair, dusting the next uber-vamp that had scaled the cliff. Buffy and Spike looked back to Willow seeing the spell was working, however the light beams that hit the humans seemed to hurt them, Buffy wasn't sure how but wasn't anxious to find out. "Get down and fall back!" She yelled as she and Spike helped block the flamethrowers retreat.

Most of the potentials made their way out of the hell mouth, being led by Anya and Andrew. The rest of the scoobies, including Wood and Kennedy, stood in the stairwell behind the witches spell and watched every Turok-Han that crossed a beam turn to dust. _The sodding spell is actually working._ Spike thought to himself and smiled. Then beams of light started to hit some of the pillars in the cave, causing them to glow the same brilliant light then burst apart.

"I don't think this cave is gonna hold much longer." Westley hollered over the noise of the collapsing pillars. "I think everyone best load up incase we have to clear the area." Buffy nodded and ushered everyone up, telling Dawn to get everyone loaded. Buffy, Spike, Wes and Willow were all that was left in the cave, and with the spell illuminating pillars at all ends of the cave Buffy was sure they had taken care of most of the Turok-Han.

Then the once bold burst of light started to flicker, Buffy looked to her friend, drenched in sweat and starting to shake. "Willow!" she yelled, "That's enough, let's go!"

Willow didn't seem to hear her and remained focused. Another pillar close to them broke apart bringing down a chunk of cave to their left, yet another signal it was time to leave. Unsure of what else to do Buffy looked to Wes and Spike, Wes pulled out a sack from his bag and handed it to Buffy, motioning to use it on the rock. "If we disrupt the catalyst it should end the spell."

Buffy nodded then looked to Spike, "You got her?" He nedded in return, ready to catch the witch. Then Buffy used the sack to grab the amulet out of the air then a moment later Willow collapsed into Spikes arms. The three raced up the stairs and out of the cavern, then ascended up the ladders to the surface, first Spike & Willow, then Wes, then Buffy. After Spike cleared the top ladder and handed Willow off to Xander and Kennedy the ground began to shake, the ladders shook and fell to the side, causing Wes to grab hold of the edge and Buffy to fall. Fred and Dawn ran to help Westley up while Spike ran to the edge to see what had become of Buffy. She had landed beside the still open seal, Spike was ready to jump down, but Dawn yelled to stop him.

"Spike!" he looked to her, still anxious to make the jump "Grab a rope or something!"

"Right." He looked around and saw a pile of rope hanging about from the pre-spell de-construction. He ran over to the bus parked 20 feet away and secured the rope to its bumper then ran back and quickly eased his way down the hole. "Buffy, you alright luv?"

"Yeah," she said a little groggy from the 2 story fall "But earthquake on the hellmouth is never a good, we gotta get outta here."

"Right, climb on my back." Spike hoped she wouldn't waste time arguing her abilities, and luckily she nodded, not too sure herself if she'd be up for the climb at the moment. Spike started to scale the rope when it started to ascend, the bus had started to move pulling them up and out of the hole. He released the rope after they were on solid ground, not seeing anyone else Spike ran, with Buffy still clung to his back, to catch the bus that was leaving the school yard. As the pair approached it the back door swung open, Spike leapt in and the potentials grabbed hold of him and Buffy so they wouldn't fall out.

After standing up Buffy asked "Why such a speedy exit?" The potentials merely pointed behind them, Buffy and Spike looked to see the school and the area they were speeding away from collapsing on itself. "Oh." _Guess we made that a bit too close of a call…_ Buffy turned around and started to head toward the front of the bus, hoping all her friends made it out. A few potentials were missing, having been slain by the Turok-Han, but everyone else seemed to be accounted for. As Buffy reached the front Dawn popped up and hugged her sister.

"We did it!" she quietly exclaimed.

"Apparently…" Buffy broke the hug and looked to the seat to her right, "How's Wil?"

"Still out, but vitals are good, she should be just fine." The bus started to slow down pulling to a stop by one of the graveyards on the outskirts of town. Everyone stared out the windows to see the large crater that seemed to engulf over half the town. "Hey maybe the house survived." Dawn said hopeful that there house may still be standing on the far side of the crater.

Buffy stepped down out the front of the bus to take a closer look, she was followed by her sister, Fred, Xander, Anya, and Andrew. Spike was about to join the group after hopping out the back end, but something caught his eye on the opposite side of the road.

"So, if only like a quarter of the town's standing… is it still a town?" Xander inquired, "I mean technically could we fill in the hole and have a nice lake, that'd make property values go up for once?" he smiled hopefully overlooking the crater.

"But wouldn't any water just drain into hell?" Anya asked "We didn't exactly close the seal."

"What over half a town of rubble isn't enough?" Dawn questioned.

"I couldn't tell ya." Buffy answered to all the questions "That's a problem for another day, today the only thing I wanna figure out is how Spike managed to become a slayer right under my nose." She went to look to glare at her boyfriend but saw he wasn't standing with them like she thought. "Spike?" After a minute he strode out from around the bus, he walked up to her and grabbed her hand and stepped back the direction he came from. "You feel like explaining?"

"Just come on." She walked beside him as he led the way, the rest of the gang followed curiously. He had led them into the graveyard to a tomb in the shape of a pyramid. "Look familiar?"

Buffy cocked her head to the side a little then looked back to her sister and Fred "This the tomb from the papers?"

"Could be, it's in the right part of town, but I don't exactly have a GPS on me." Dawn pointed out.

Buffy nodded in response then motioned for the group to hang back, while she stepped to the door, still holding Spike's hand, motioning him to join her. She released his hand to open the door then entered the tomb. The door opened to a steep staircase going down, but there was light coming from the bottom. Buffy made her way down, Spike close behind. At the bottom there was a large room supported by Egyptian-esk stone pillars and the space was lit with small basins of oil lit on fire.

"Someone expectin' us?"

"That's usually not good…" but before Buffy could finish a third voice filled the space.

"Not usually, but there's always exceptions to rules." A pale old woman with white hair came into view, hands behind her back as she slowly walked toward the pair. "Of course you already know that, you've created many exceptions to the rules of this world. Today alone you've made a second slayer, used the Lapedium Solis in an unusual way, and sealed the hellmouth before the FIRST could finish its plan."

"Well my mom always said I had a knack for making trouble." Buffy surmised.

The woman was now standing a few feet in front of them "Yes, you both have made quite an impact on this world… And you're far from done."

"I'm sorry, but who might you be puppet?"

"She's a guardian." Buffy answered, not taking her eyes off the woman.

"One of the first, I'm the last of those who watched the shadow men make the first Slayer."

"You look good for your age Mum." Spike half joked.

"I do." She replied almost cocky.

"You just said that the hellmouth is closed, yet we're far from done?" Buffy asked confused.

"You two will go on to fight evil wherever it lies, it simply doesn't lie here anymore." Buffy and Spiked nodded in agreement and understanding. "And as you will be moving on I would like to pass this on to you." From behind her back she unveiled a large ax with a curved red blade at one end, the base was made of wood and came to a point like a stake. "This is a powerful weapon, it has been given to slayers throughout the centuries when they were deemed worthy."

Buffy accepted the weapon, amazed by its beauty and design. Spike looked to it and muttered "Guess I gotta save the world a few more times before I get one." He chuckled.

"It is for the both of you now," the guardian explained "You sir have done something that has never been done, and for that we reward you as well. The gaurdians had never dared to intentionally make a second slayer. But in how and why you have done it, we find commendable and will honor the change."

"So Kendra then Faith?"

"Kendra was accidentally the start of a second line, we did not think you would come back. Then when you died a second time, we did not call another, thinking one was best."

"So with the mojo Wes & Willow did today, that changed things?" Spike asked.

"Yes, they altered the nature of the magic, so from now on there will be one man and one woman slayer."

"So the slayer will never have to be alone again…" Buffy surmised and smiled, handing the scythe for Spike to hold.

"Now, I know of your deeds, but what are your names, to be remembered for all time for what you have done."

"Oh, I'm Buffy and this is Spike." Buffy said pointing to herself and Spike accordingly.

"No, Really?" The pair shrugged to the truth of it, the guardian almost looked embarrassed she asked. "Well then, Buffy and Spike, you have done the world a great service in stopping the FIRST, and this sorry world needs your continued help to beat back the rising dark. Continue to help each other, and perhaps you can live longer than the slayers before you." After a moment the crypt's lights extinguished, the only light present came from the stairs behind them, not seeing the guardian anymore they turned and started up the stairs.


	18. Chapter 18: Epilogue

**CONTENT WARNING: Some brief but explicit sexual content in the middle scene of this closing chapter.**

Chapter 18 – Epilogue

"And that's what happened. Kennedy, Anya, and Andrew are helping the potentials get back home, if they still have one, and those that don't will be coming back here. Figure they'd be good candidates for your new watcher program." Buffy finished her story of the apocalypse to Giles and the few other remaining watchers. They were in a conference room in London meeting with the re-forming council. Buffy, Xander, Willow, Dawn, & Spike had ventured there after Sunnydale practically collapsed in on itself, and the old guardian had told them there was nothing more for them there.

"So, you never thought to pick up the phone and ask for my help?" Giles asked shocked at how his slayer and her friends managed to beat back the FIRST evil on their own.

"Well, we kinda thought you'd be coming back soon." Buffy supposed.

"And we did end up getting some help from Westley." Xander chimed in. Giles did not look too amused at the comment. "Which is like a discount Giles, decent substitute, but not the original."

"I appreciate the effort Xander, but I must admit that the resources at Westley's fingertips pales in comparison to what's left here at the council." Giles conceded "For the moment at least."

"So, how long till you get the new council up and running." Dawn asked.

"Hard to say. What people that were left of it are all here, but we're still putting the pieces back together. Obviously a great deal of the texts in the library were destroyed, but the political influence of the council still resonates, so there's still power in it."

"So where do all your resources say we should go next?" Spike asked, clearly getting impatient with the now 3 hour long meeting. "What evil corner of the world could use a pair of slayers to defend it."

"I'm still not certain I'd consider you a slayer Spike."

"And why the hell not?"

"For one you're a man, slayers have always been women."

"Buffy told you the guardian said I was the start of a new bloody line of male slayers. So the chosen one doesn't have to be alone."

"And how was it you heard about these guardians? They aren't in any of the texts myself or the rest of the council knows of."

"When we were dimension browsing, your old buddy Ethan clued us in." Xander supplied.

"Well he's a well of reliable information…" Giles accosted.

"Well the FIRST wasn't written down anywhere, but they're definitely real." Dawn interjected. "So, getting back to Spike's question, where do we go from here Giles?" The whole gang groaned a little at Dawn's phrasing. "Fine, where's a good place to go help next?"

"Well, Cleveland has a hellmouth." Giles started than pulled out a notepad and recited. "There has been some odd demon activity in Miami, Florida. New York's population and underground system is a paradise for vampires."

"Hmm, never thought about that with New York." Buffy commented.

"Yeah, place is a bloody free for all, hard to get your own shit done without running into another vamp to muck it all up."

"When were you in New York?" Xander asked.

"1977, that's when I killed Nikki Wood."

"Oh."

"Suffice it to say me and Dru didn't stay any longer than we had to in that crowded mess of a town."

"Okay then," Buffy started, anxious to keep the topic moving "What else ya got for us Giles?"

"Well the Immortal is currently residing in Rome."

"Who's that?" Dawn asked intrigued.

"A poncy bastard who needs to learn to stop screwing in other bloke's lives." The table once again addressed their attention to Spike. "1894 the ponce nabbed me and Angel so he could violate Dru & Darla."

"Wait, so that make him good or bad?" Willow asked "Cause taking the two worst vampires down a peg, good. But sleeping with vampires, bad."

"Hey…" Buffy pouted, Spike nearly snickered while Willow gave Buffy an apologetic look.

Then Giles explained "The Immortal has been around for as long as our texts date back, he's done things for both the side of good and evil, and being as he disappears for centuries at a time, we believe he has the ability to jump dimensions."

"So what exactly would you want us to do about him?" Buffy inquired.

"Well in theory he would make a good ally."

"No!" Spike said firmly "We're on good terms with evil inc and I just got a soul and a power boost, we don't need to add that wild card prick to the mix."

The group was silent to the clearly annoyed ex-vampire's comment. Then Buffy stood up and suggested "Would you excuse us a minute." After receiving nods from the group Buffy grabbed Spike by the arm and pulled him into the hall, after closing the door behind them she asked plainly. "What's up?"

"I already know the son of a bitch doesn't like me, so why bother go and try to make nice. We don't need to go wasting our breath on that ponce."

"Spike…" Buffy asked again silently as she raised a hand to his cheek.

He leaned into her touch "I can't loose you… Not so quick at least…"

"What makes you think that'd even be an issue?" she asked confused "I wasn't lying when I said I love you Spike." _… I didn't realize he thought my feeling for him were so frail…_

"Not you pet, at least not willingly I'd hope… its just… the bastard has this way of making everyone love him, in every way," Buffy could feel him shaking a little against her hand in what she assumed was anger. "and I might just get myself killed if he tried to take you from me now…"

Buffy pulled herself up to him and silenced him with a kiss. For a moment Spike forgot what he was upset about and reveled in her kiss.

* * *

2 months had passed since Sunnydale's last apocalypse. The Scoobies were just starting to adjust to their new life in Avon, a western suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, where another hellmouth resides. The whole gang found a 5 bedroom house to rent as they settled in on their new hellmouth. However Anya found herself more comfortable back in London helping out the new council, as did Wood. Willow and Kennedy found themselves bouncing back and forth between the council, the coven, and their new home in Ohio.

Buffy woke around 10 as usual, most of the house was off to jobs or school, and Buffy and Spike tended to sleep in after patrolling. Buffy had managed to find a job teaching self-defense classes, so her work was mostly in the late afternoon to evening. Xander had settled into a new construction crew, and it was looking like he'd be supervising again soon. Andrew managed to hang around, having gotten along with Xander, and insisting he could add an additional honest income to the group. Dawn couldn't be more excited or nervous about starting her junior year at a new school, but since Buffy said she had to finish high school before getting to jump into watcher training. She conceded to the arrangement after the fact she realized that it was also time she'd get to spend with her nearly big brother Spike, who was now truly apart of the family. Even though the whole crew was sharing a house again, it seemed much less crowded than their time in Sunnydale, as Kennedy was the only potential to be found from time to time. Everyone had their own space, except for the couples that shared rooms.

So everything had settled in to a sense of normalcy. On this morning however instead of heading to their home gym to start her morning, Buffy had to make a mad dash to the bathroom. She had just made it to the toilet in time to puke. _Ughhh, what the hell? Xander's tacos don't normally disagree with me…_ After her stomach started to settle she decided to skip her normal morning workout as to not further upset her stomach, and simply jumped in the shower. After stepping in, the door to the bathroom opened, and a naked Spike joined her in the large stall.

"Please tell me you were clothed down the hall."

"No one's home pet."

"You have no shame."

"Not a lick." he smiled stepping against her wet body and kissed her deeply. After a moment he released her, then asked "You feelin alright luv?" noticing an odd taste now in his mouth.

"Yeah, I'm guessing something I ate didn't agree with me, woke up all pukey."

Spike softly kissed her again, "Anything I can do to help?"

"I think it's passed. I just figured I'd forgo my morning workout just in case."

"Well we can't have missing out on your routine… there must be some activity we can substitute…" he teased gliding a hand across her breasts.

"It's not exactly a substitute if that's done most days anyway…" Buffy argued.

"Then we'll have to go a few extra rounds today." He said as he squeezed one of her boobs. Buffy shuttered a little in delight at the sensation. "I'm gonna take that as a yes." He noted briefly then dipped his head down to her other breast and started to lick and suckle on her nipple, making Buffy moan instantly. _Thank god no one's home…_ After a few minutes of fondling and kissing her breasts, Spike started to kiss his way down her belly, then dropped to his knees before her. He first kissed a scar on her inner thigh, then nuzzled her hot center. Then he very un-ceremonially grabbed her ass with on hand and the back of her thigh with another as he dove his tongue into her. Buffy nearly toppled from the sensation, grabbing at the wet shower walls, but Spike had her, and wasn't about to let her fall.

"Oh Spike…" She moaned as her body wriggled at every motion of his tongue. The one thing that hadn't changed in their new life was that Spike was still an amazing lover, so fierce yet generous. And the pair had definitely learned to take advantage of their extra strength. After Spike pulled away from her center, he stood up, and lifted her onto his full grown member. It didn't take long for either of them to feel the blood start to rush through their bodies. And after a high pitched moan from buffy and a near growling yelp from Spike the pair climaxed. Buffy looked lovingly to her boyfriend after the rush had passed, barley noticing the water that was still hitting her back.

But after a moment Buffy pushed away and motioned for him to let her down quickly as she hurriedly stepped out of the shower and went for the toilet. Spike turned off the shower and followed her. "You sure your all right pet? Cause that's definitely not your normal reaction."

After she thought she was done she responded, head still facing the toilet. "Ughh, I don't know. I was fine a minute ago then woosh… I must be coming down with something."

"You need to go see a doc?"

"Maybe, I guess I have been a bit tired the past week, slayer strength or no, maybe I'm just getting sick."

* * *

Buffy returned home from her doctor's appointment at about 5. Not everyone was home yet, but she could smell supper cooking, so she headed for the kitchen. Spike was sitting at the island chatting with Dawn who was tending to the oven and stove's delicious smelling contents. Spike cause sight of Buffy and hopped up to greet her, giving her a big but soft hug. "How'd it go at the doc?"

"Um, fine." She muddled as Spike released her, she looked around as she took a seat at the island. "So um, where the boys at?"

"Downstairs, game room, video game carnage." Dawn supplied "So Spike said you were getting sick?"

"Seemed like, became very friendly with our toilet."

"So?" Spike asked impatiently.

"Doc said no bug or flu or food poisoning. I'm perfectly healthy."

"Obviously not if you were blowing chunks this morning." Dawn commented, directing all her attention to her sister. "Did you ask for a second opinion?"

"Didn't need to, they had one test that explained all my symptoms perfectly, and came back positive."

"And?" Spike asked, more impatient than before.

Then Buffy smiled, not really anticipating telling Dawn right away too, but she couldn't hold it back anymore. "I'm pregnant." Spike froze, reiterating in his mind if he heard right.

Whereas Dawn squealed in joy. "Oh my god! Seriously!" she ran around the table to hug her sister. After a few more giddy squeals from both sisters, Buffy looked to Spike, still half holding her sister.

"You okay luv?" she asked, using his own pet name to try and pull him out of his trance.

Before he had a chance to answer Dawn jokingly asked "Wait, it is his isn't it?"

"Oi! Of course it is."

"That got his attention." The teenager giggled.

"Yes it's Spike's, and Doc says I'm about 2 months along." Buffy added as she stepped over to her boyfriend, grabbing his hand. "I guess I wasn't too surprised when the doc said that pregnancy could be an option, being as we didn't exactly wait and think about protection after you became a real boy…"

"I'd say…" Dawn supplied. The couple glared at their not so little sister. "What double slayer sex does tend to be head through walls." The glare continued, even though Buffy's face grew red in embarrassment. "Fine, you two have your happy new parent moment." She motioned to leave, then turned around "Can I tell Xander?"

In one voice they declared, "No!"

* * *

"You know I'm really surprised Dawn hasn't blabbed anything to the gang." Buffy commented to Spike on their drive home after the latest doctor's appointment, "But now that I'm just past 4 months, I'm starting to show... I think we better tell everyone, before Willow leaves for London again."

"Whatever you want pet." He answered. He'd noticed that since he knew she was pregnant it was even harder for him to say no to her. Not that he usually wanted to, but he had yet to convince her to stop patrolling. They pulled into the driveway and headed into the house. And to their surprise the _whole_ gang was sitting in the living room; Dawn, Andrew, Xander, Willow, Kennedy, and Giles & Anya. "Well would ya look at that, the whole gang is here, well there's no time like the present luv…"

 _I hate it when he puts me on the spot like that…_ Before she could retaliate Giles had made his way to her and hugged her, Anya close behind. And after the usual greetings Buffy got right to the point, sitting in the living room with the gang, "So what's with the visit from watcher central." Spike followed and leaned on the armrest of the seat Buffy took, fairly positive he knew the answer to her question.

"Well, it appears you've settled in the right place," Giles started "It seems we have a slight apocalypse headed your way."

"Balls… Why can't you ever swing in when there ain't?" Spike disputed. _I'm not gonna let anything bloody happen to you or our kid…_ he silently promised as he placed a hand on Buffy's shoulder.

Giles seemed a little irked by the motion, clearly showing that his slayer was still involved with the ex-murderous-vampire, something the father figure had hoped she'd out grown by now… "Maybe next time. And what were you talking about when you two came in, something about no time like the present?" Giles poked, not liking to be kept in the dark, especially if it involved his almost-daughter.

"Oh, um well…" Buffy trailed off and looked to Spike, hand still on her shoulder in reassurance and urging her on, she softly rolled her eyes back at him knowing he'd say something eventually if she didn't. "Well I wasn't expecting to be able to tell everyone now, but I suppose now's a good of time as any." She pulled Spike's hand off her shoulder and into her hand.

Buffy took a deep breath then announced: "In about 5 month's we're gonna have a daughter."

The whole room's jaws dropped, except for Dawn who jumped up squealing at the new news it was gonna be a girl. "I'm gonna have the cutest niece ever!"

"Wait, wait, wait…" Willow demanded, and stopped Dawn's jumping "Dawnie, you knew and you didn't tell any of us?" Dawn nodded enthusiastically at her silence.

"You're sure?" Giles asked Buffy as calmly as he could. She simply smiled and nodded. "And no chance it isn't Spike's?"

"Giles!" Buffy scolded.

"Hey if he didn't ask I was gonna." Xander piped in and half the room chuckled.

"Why you gotta keep bloody askin' that?"

"Okay for those of you that are confused about my love life for some weird reason: Angel, once, vampire; Parker, once, used protection; Spike, lots when a vampire, and kinda forgot about using protection when he went all slayer on me. So yes the only physical possibility is that it's Spike's kid." Buffy more than clarified, shutting everyone up.

"Then I'd say Dawn's correct." Anya smiled "That is gonna be a very cute kid."

The couple smiled in return, then Spike added, "Thanks luv." There was still definite tension in the room, but if Buffy had learned anything from telling her friend's big news in the past, whether they fully agreed or not, is that they always support her to the end.

"Alright, now that that cat's out of the bag… what kind of oogily boogilies we got Giles?" Dawn asked, still giddy but ready to ring the gong on their next apocalypse.


End file.
